<p>@busdriver11, I buy loads of the 3 for $14 glasses at Walgreens, and spread them all over the house so that they’re available if I want to sit on them (but never around if I need to read something). Btw, I asked my eye doctor, and he said the cheap ones are fine and will not hurt your eyes. </p>
<p>Re Schumer: it’s not excusing him, but it takes more than one to keep carried interest alive. </p>
<p>I’m sure they’re all in it, on both sides. Keep them donors donating, right?</p>
<p>I actually have a couple of pairs of glasses, but I never take them with me. I always forget! Maybe I should keep some in the car. It drives me crazy, I always struggle to read the menu, or my iPhone when I can’t expand the text. I just can’t adapt to glasses. I’ve always had 20/10 vision, and could read the tiniest print. I hate even wearing sunglasses. It’s like a disability, I need to adapt.</p>
<p>It’s smart to wear sunglasses regularly outside to help protect your eyes, especially in sunny places like Florida. If you don’t, there’s a fair chance down the road you’ll get a pterygium growth on your eyeball that an eye doctor will end up having to carve off. </p>
<p>This audience will appreciate a restaurant observation that DH and I discuss. Fancy restaurants often have low lighting and teeny cursive font on the menu. What are they thinking? The folks with younger eyes can’t afford the prices. Perhaps they should bring flashlights with the menus 
</p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s classy, but my wife will use her iPhone’s flashlight app in dimly lit restaurants. </p>
<p>There is a magnifying glass with lighting, a charming little device.</p>
<p>I burned my cornea when I was young. Does it make me more susceptible to a pterygium growth?</p>
<p>Oldster retirees in Florida don’t worry about low light in restaurants at night…they eat at 'earlybird specials" at restaurants and return to their homes before it gets dark.</p>
<p>I use my flashlight app in restaurants all the time, and ask to sit where it’s light. I’ll even pull up the menu online ahead of time so I can see it clearly. I don’t know why I can’t bring myself to remember glasses. The dimly lit restaurant, small print menus are really annoying. I have found some places that actually have reading glasses for people to wear. It’s really considerate, knowing your patrons like that.</p>
<p>Lizard, we don’t usually have to worry about protecting our eyes from the sun too much in the PNW. But we’re going to have to, this weekend. Seafair, here we come!</p>
<p>Puerto Rico is the new tax haven for the investment guys. 0% capital gain rates, 0% tax on dividends and interest and some ridiculously low flat rate (down to 0%) on business income, 0% property taxes, and other goodies.</p>
<p>Check out Act 20 and Act 22: <a href=“http://puertoricotaxincentives.com/”>http://puertoricotaxincentives.com/</a></p>
<p>Puerto Rico has major financial issues . </p>
<p>This is one story…</p>
<p><a href=“http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/u-s-investment-firms-challenge-puerto-rico-restructuring-law-1404068742?mobile=y”>http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/u-s-investment-firms-challenge-puerto-rico-restructuring-law-1404068742?mobile=y</a></p>
<p>May be good for investors and businesses, but don’t know about most individuals, though. I thought people still had to pay US Federal taxes, and commonwealth taxes on income. I thought the overall tax burden was fairly high. But if they’re trying to attract wealthy people who pay low federal, and businesses, this will probably work.</p>
<p>Good news about menus. Some restaurants are now using iPads. You can easily enlarge the font!</p>
<p>I retired in 2011. I’m very happy with my retirement income. I have two separate IRA accounts. I collected a pension at age 60, and added my (woohoo) $166 a month SS to it at age 62. At age 65, that SS will fund my Medicare bill, and I will draw on my smaller IRA. At age 70, I will tap into the larger IRA. I won’t have a choice. I will at least be required to take the minimum draw annually. </p>
<p>DH is still working and will do so until at least age 65. So medical is through him. </p>
<p>Unless you are a Fed gov’t employee, residents of Puerto Rico don’t pay Federal income tax, just payroll taxes (which are miniscule).
<a href=“Hate Taxes? Move To Tax-Free Puerto Rico, Stay American, Avoid IRS”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/07/04/hate-taxes-move-to-tax-free-puerto-rico-stay-american-avoid-irs/</a></p>
<p>My H had to have a flashlight often for work, so he has a small holster that he wears pretty much all the time that holds his little flashlight, attached to his belt. It is one that holds 2 AAA or AA batteries. He takes it on our trips, on the airplane, rental cars, and yes, nearly all restaurants. He was happy when I needed reading glasses with my contacts. Now that I don’t wear contacts, I no longer need or carry them, so he has to remember to bring them on his own. When he has the flashlight, it slightly diminishes his need for reading glasses. I sometimes read him the menu or suggest items I think he’d like; it makes him happy, as I know his tastes well. He also prefers to sit in the brightly lit section of restaurants. ;)</p>
<p>
Why is the monthly SS only $166? Is it because you have mostly been working for organizations (e.g., as a teacher, state/city government employee) which do not pay into SS so that you receive more pensions than SS?</p>
<p>Assuming that a person has been working for companies which pay into the SS system for about 30 years, with an above average income every year, how much SS will such a person collect if stopping working at 60 and starting to collect SS at 62, or at 66? It would not be as low as $166, right? I once heard of a number which is close to $1200 a month.</p>
<p>The above is roughly my family’s case, with the exception that we had started to receive some pension from one of the companies starting 55 yo! (was concerned about the solvency of that company at that time so decided to start collecting that pension as early as we can. That company has been sold twice since then but we still receive that pension today.) We wonder how much we could collect for my SS plus my spouse’s spousal SS at the age of 62 vs 66? Will we get at least $1600 a month at 66 (assuming that we start to collect them at the age 66 but stop working at, say, 60?) We have received statements from SS every few (or other?) years but I could not find it any more.</p>
<p>My SS is predicted to be about $1200 a month if I start collecting as planned at age 70. My work history was pretty spotty but still got up to that amount, even tho some of my years of working was for the state government who did NOT withhold SS & a lot of my quarters were the minimum for a quarter to count for SS. I agree that for it to be lower than mine, a person had to have earned below the minimum required for a quarter (which is currently only $1200/quarter) or worked at govt jobs where there was no SS withholding.</p>
<p>@mcat2, you should log into ssa.gov and create an online account. Your questions can be answered there better than we can.</p>
<p>ETA: "To create a my Social Security account, you must provide some personal information about yourself and give us answers to some questions that only you are likely to know. Next, you create a username and password that you will use to access your online account. This process protects you and keeps your personal Social Security information private. "</p>
<p>Flashlights are great, HImom. If I ever carried a purse, I would have one in there. But the iPhone apps are pretty great too. I carry earplugs wherever I go, especially for my husband. He gets irritated at restaurants when we’re hoping to enjoy ourselves, and have to listen to loud babies, grating conversation next to us, and extremely boisterous waitresses (you can tell we must frequent classy joints).</p>
<p>Thanks. Will go to ssa.gov site some day to look it up.</p>
<p>I was actually on some front page of that ssa.gov site a month or two ago but decided against setting up an account. I am notorious about setting up an account and then forgot to keep track of user ID and password properly and do not know how to log in for the second time. So I do not want to do it unless my spouse does it together. There are many sites that only she knows how to log in - especially the bank related accounts. A trouble spot for us is the broker account related to the 401K and the stock options. She said this should not be her business and I often had a hard time in locating the login information. I know I have had online accounts there, but I often rely on the phone number of the broker and talk to them directly if I “guess” that I may have, say, some vested stock option that could be sold. (In one year, it was quite significant amount if lucky - like the year the previous company got sold and the vesting schedule of all stock options was accelerated.)</p>
<p>The Social Security benefits estimator here does not require you to create an account. Go to the bottom of the page, click the “Estimate Your Retirement Benefits” button, fill in the requested information, and you will see your estimated benefits:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/estimator.htm”>http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/estimator.htm</a></p>