chinaco
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
- Messages
- 5,072
I think you meant to say that those are the three key questions for you and your situation. But other people with different situations have different questions to consider, goals to target and missions to accomplish. For example, the situation that Don and I post about above regarding being married with one spouse having no SS and subject to the GPO provision.
You are correct, there could be any number of special situations or personal reasons for delaying SS or not (rational, irrational, ignorance, or just don't care). One situation that may make one adjust their decision is if the market is severely down and they would have to sell their securities cheap to live. It is not a simple question to answer.
My comment was a generalization. But those questions cover the basics for most people (assuming you are not in the camp of believers that SS will be taken away or severely diminished and therefore decide you want to get it as soon as you can). It seems that many struggle with working through issues like: Do I need the money now? Hey, but what about my estate... If I die young I missed out? I hope I (or DW) don't run low on income in there very late years... I would hate to resort to eating cat food.
I might be missing some aspect of your point or perhaps I could have been more clear... but Item 1 covers - do you have enough money (assets or other income) to bridge the period of time you delay taking SS. Taking it as soon as possible may be the only way one could afford to retire.