The Check

After a lifetime of waiting, it quietly arrived.  I did not find it in my mailbox.  Instead, I happened to check my online bank account and there it was.  On October 14, 2024, I received my first deposit from Social Security.  

In some ways I wished I had received a paper check.   Something I could hold up in my hands and maybe make a copy of to save for later reflection.  As it was, it was a bit anticlimactic, somewhat like turning 70 but having a cake without candles.

There were times in my life that it seemed Social Security would die before I would. Many felt they would never receive the monies they had deducted from their checks for so many years.  Every election cycle there would be scare tactics about Social Security going bankrupt.  This year is no different.

As I looked at the amount on my computer screen, I realize that the amount was more than ten times my first house payment.  The first monthly Social Security amount was almost 50 percent of my first-year job offer, and about a third of my first W-2.  Inflation has helped make that amount greater over time, but it is still a nest egg and security blanket that most people around the world never have.

In the almost six years since I retired, I have constantly second guessed myself about when I should finally pull the trigger and start receiving my Social Security benefits.  My uncle took his benefits as soon as they were available, at the age of 62.  The amount was small as he aged and yet, when he died unexpectedly at the age of 74, he had made the correct decision, at least mathematically.

I chose the other route.  I waited until I was at the full retirement age of 70 before drawing my benefits.  That means that the amount I receive will be 37 percent higher than if I had started at age 62, all other things being equal.

Of course, that also means that I must live until I am 84 before I will receive more money by delaying the start of Social Security.  After years of weighing the odds, I am just glad the time is now.  I do not have to second guess myself anymore.  After all, there is nothing I can do about it.  My options have run out.

It feels strange seeing those government dollars in my checking account.  I can say that I have never really received direct government payments before, but that would not be true.  I, like most Americans, have always received government benefits in some form.  Like the street one block away that was paved this week.  Like the hip replacement I had four months ago that was paid for by Medicare and supplemental insurance with a co-pay of only 50 dollars.

Tonight, Mary Lou and I celebrated by ordering dinner and having it delivered from a local restaurant.  After all, we are double dipping by both receiving Social Security.  It is not always enough for many, but it is always better than nothing.  

I just wish that I could see that check.

o0o

Dan Ponder can be reached at [email protected]