The other bad news is that if you wait until 70 to take your SS, the chances are pretty good you’ll be too doddering to have anything worthwhile to spend the money on, or you’ll be dead.
If you have decent private savings and/or a private pension and/or have low living expenses and/or debt free, do not wait until 70 to start taking SS ... in other words. if you don’t really NEED to take your SS, you should take it ...
oh, and cutting through all the gobbledygook about the more you wait, the more you get, everyone accumulates monthly payment increases of about .5%/month more for each month you wait to take SS (not counting additional payments made to SS if you are still working) ...
I disagree. I waited until 70 and now 5 years on I’m not doddering and I’m relatively certain I’m not dead. I got a SIG DMR some months back and I can hit the silhouette target first time 5 out of 7 at 600 yards. That was before I foolishly took it fishing off the coast of FL and accidentally dropped it in 350 feet
I retired the year I turned 66, but before my 66th birthday. So, my SS benefit is based on my age at the time of my retirement, as I opted to take it at that time. So, my benefit is just a few dollars shy of what I would have received had I waited until my 66th birthday to begin receiving SS. To me, time is more valuable than money (I’m a cancer patient, but presently in remission), so it was a no-brainer retiring six months before I reached my full SS retirement age. I also receive four pensions from private employers, plus I have CDs and savings, and I have no debt (house is all paid off and I paid cash for my truck). The biggest expense is paying for my wife’s medical insurance, as she is six years younger than me and has been a homemaker for over 25 years (thus, she has no employer-sponsored medical coverage).
I run 5ks and ran with a 72 year old who did it in 23 minutes. 70 isn’t what it used to be. At 62, I feel happy if I come in at 38, however. Used to do 32.