How many of you wonder if you should get Medicare at your full retirement age or not?
I have been getting this question a lot lately. There’s a lot of confusion around this and not knowing how to coordinate the two or not knowing you should coordinate the two is critical.
For those of you who don’t know, Social Security has a full retirement age. And for most people, your retirement age is likely 66 and a few months. I typically hear that people’s full retirement age is 66 and a half.
Plus, if you’re working after 65, you also need to know when to get Medicare.
My answer on retiring and getting Medicare are two different answers.
First, Social Security is a decision based on your financial needs and should be made with a financial advisor.
Second, getting Medicare is determined on if you creditable insurance coverage at 65. If not, you should join Medicare at 65.
The key takeaway is that most people join Medicare at a different time than their retirement age for Social Security. As I said above, these are two different needs.
So, you should get Medicare at 65 if you have no other health insurance or your plan doesn’t meet Medicare rules. However, if you have health insurance through an employer that meets those rules and cheaper than Medicare, you can delay joining Medicare.
It’s also important to point out that you don’t have to be taking Social Security to join Medicare.
We have clients joining Medicare for the first time in their 70s. So again, taking Social Security and joining Medicare are two very different decisions, so please be sure to treat them as such.
