2. You Have a Shorter Life Expectancy
The government encourages delaying your Social Security benefits by increasing the monthly payments the longer you wait.
For instance, if you start claiming Social Security early, at age 62 more precisely, but your full retirement age is 66, then your monthly benefit will be around 75% of your full benefits. So if you’ve calculated that your monthly benefit will be $1,000 at age 66, you would only get about $750 at 62.
A larger monthly benefit definitely sounds great, but don’t forget that you won’t receive that extra $250 monthly until you reach your full retirement age, which in this scenario means waiting four years. Since you’d have a reduced amount of $750 monthly, you’d receive a $36,000 total amount during those four years.
And now let’s say you begin receiving an extra $250 per month which means you’ll get $1,000 at age 66. Well, you won’t be able to break even until after 12 years compared to claiming Social Security early. If you’re dealing with health problems and you don’t expect to reach the age of 78, you’ll earn more benefits during your lifetime if you decide to claim them as soon as possible.
This makes sense for a married couple, that the lower earner file first. The breadwinner should delay. As a single person, I waited until age 70 to start my SS benefit and have no regrets.
It depends on your financial situation. I waited until 70 and I am glad I did. My goal was to get as high a benefit as possible since I will be living from month to month on my expenses. A lot of people claim early to get as much money from the system as possible; I didn’t care about that, since if I die early and don’t get the maximum benefit, why would I care at that point?
She can get her SS and his as a survivor benefit up to age 70. Then she has to claim one or the other.
I do know of at least sixteen people who died at 65, 66 and 67. They did not choose to receive S.S. benefits until FRA. Unfortunately, they received very little in monetary benefits. One such person, the VP of our company died at 65. He was a smoker, wore boots to work which hampered his walkability, and spent all his extra money on sports cars. He worked all his life. He claimed only two checks of S S money before he passed away. One must CALCULATE the amount of money one would receive by taking benefits at 62 instead of waiting. Of course the monthly benefit is higher at FRA, but, if you do not live at least six years after you take benefits, then what good is it? DO THE MATH !!!
I waited to take mine until my job played out three months before I turned 70. I would have payed taxes on it if I had taken it early and my SS check would be a lot smaller now. I am 85 years old and welcome the income.