Posted on 10/23/2025 10:20:16 AM PDT by fruser1
Almost all Americans say they are planning to ignore a key piece of Social Security advice, which means they will miss out on higher monthly payments.
Only 10 percent of those still working plan to wait until they are 70 before they start claiming benefits, according to findings from investment firm Schroders.
Americans can begin claiming Social Security as early as 62, but doing so permanently reduces their monthly payments.
To receive a full retirement benefit, workers must wait until their full retirement age, which stands at 67.
However every year after full retirement age that Americans delay claiming Social Security, their payment will increase by 8 percent.
According to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, people who claim before age 70 are wasting an average of $182,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Why is the UK Daily mail giving SS advice? We did not wait. My husband’s retired with a pension in 2008, but that was halved when he hit 62. His plant was wiped out anyway. The timing was good to escape my job when I hit 62, also. It depends on circumstances.
I'm guessing we all know people who died in their early to mid 60s who never collected a penny in Socialist Security.
I think that’s exactly correct. SS has a few things in common with Ponzi schemes. If the government can collecte money from everyone, that’s good for the government. If the government can convince some people to delay collection until — whoops! — you’re already dead! then that’s good for the government. In short, the government would love it if everyone waits until age 70 to collect. That’s good advice for some people, but not for everyone. I never trust the government.
Your wife can apply for the spousal benefit if you die first and she doesn’t collect to later. It doesn’t matter if you’re already collecting. What matters if you’ve already paid into the system and if it’d be more beneficial to use your spousal benefit vs her own. SS folks will do that math for you (her).
And that’s with no time value for the money.
If those early years funds were invested it pushes it back even further.
I was still working at 70 when I started SS.The SS employee asked me if I wanted a lump-sum payment of $13,000 for waiting until 70. I took the money and ran.
I am 62 and taking my SS already. I have 3 brothers who didn’t live to see 65. My parents died at 75. I am enjoying having a bit more cash flow. Tipping is now a pleasure, for example.
Every person has their own story.
I think there are a lot of people who decide I might as well take it because who knows IF I will make it to that.
I am 62.
My dad lived to 77. Mom to 92.
Even though I don’t anticipate needing the money when I retire, I still want back what I have put in since the age of 14. When I had the first job I paid in to SS.
Ever since Covid the LIFE EXPECTANCY has decreased. Maybe that was part of the plan.
One of the best kept secrets of Social Security is that well to do folks have a large advantage over poorer folks in several ways:
—Well to do people generally live longer than poor people
—Well to do people have a job history that guarantees their benefit will be substantially higher than poor people
—Well to do people can afford to wait until 70 while poor people cannot
These factors have a multiplier effect on each other.
"I have just a few years until 62 ~ I don’t plan to live past 75"
If inflation was out of control (i.e., Biden years), then there might be more of a case for this, but under more normal conditions, the answer is 'No', for two reasons:
(1) The starting benefit is based on your highest 35 years of income... indexed to current value by inflation. Presumably, your income in later years tends to be counted as part of those 35 years as lower amounts from the past drop off. If that's not the case, then... it might be worth doing the math to see if you're better off _not_ working.
(2) Because there may also be a spousal component to consider as well: my wife, for example, will be eligible for a benefit of 50% of whatever I get... so it's best to maximize _my_ benefits. Plus, whenever one of us passes, the other gets the highest benefit amount (unfortunately, it's not both, but it's still better).
IIRC, a surviving spouse can choose whichever SS account is the highest. If you receive X amount, and she receives 2X, and she passes, you can receive her SS income. IIRC.
Yep, take it at 62.
Who's going to hire a 63 year old Journeyman electrician? After 6 months of looking for work the answer was NO ONE and so I applied for SS.
I have other retirement $$ too so I'm doing OK.
I quit my job when I was 63. It was a stressful job and my blood pressure was sky high. I had a heart attack at 56 and did not know how long I had. Finally one day the company I work for pissed me off and I quit. I got tired of their bonus programs that dangle the carrot in front of you and you will never get it.
I get enough social security to get by without too much hardship. I would do it again in a heartbeat since my health is so much better without the stress.
I also told my kids to make sure I stop voting after I'm dead before they tell SSA to stop making my benefit payments. I tried to put that in my will but the attorney just laughed and said it's unenforceable.
Since I’m in great health, and my dad is still living at 94 with my mother making 93, I’m anticipating healthy longevity, giving another reason to delay.
A never discussed reason to delay is that you can pay Medicare B by credit card and earn credit card sign up bonuses and rewards. Once you start getting SS you are forced to have the Medicare cost reduce your monthly SS.
It’s also sensible for the higher wage earner to wait until 70 to maximize potential spousal survival benefits.
Oddly in our state, assets and sale of assets don’t count against SNAP/EBT, and there’s no work requirement for people over 55 (now 62), so for some low-income years it made additional sense to delay SS to receive that as a 18.8% bonus. We always treated SNAP as real money, spending frugally and worked up a $3,000 balance to use for a while after getting SS. However, we’re now spending it rapidly considering the balance may be frozen or repossessed Nov 1. Since getting SS it dropped to a minuscule 0.8% extra.
I’m an exception to that rule. I never made big income, I made my money off capital gains from investments, which SS ignores. So, I was able to retire at 60, (wife retired at 53) but her SS check is $200 a month higher than mine.
You’ve got to be stupid to wait. If you wait years to collect what was stolen from you, all that money is gone. You don’t ever get any of it back. They’re hoping you die, and millions wind up doing just that before they ever collect a cent.
If you die early, you don’t know the difference. If you live long, economically you may suffer if you took the payment to early. I planned on living long.
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