Whats the best age to take SS?

[JOEBEAU10]

At FRA?
At 70
At 62
Will SS be around in 2034?

 

[Exchme]

Look at opensocialsecurity.com. It's the best site for analyzing your options and you can change the various assumptions about the future. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the results page, where there is a graph showing the change in the value of lifetime benefits for various claim ages.

 

[REWahoo]

At FRA?
At 70
At 62
Will SS be around in 2034?

You forgot the most important question: At what age will I die? Once you know that, the answer is simple.

 

[W2R]

You forgot the most important question: At what age will I die? Once you know that, the answer is simple.

+1

I took mine at age 70, and that is what made me happiest. I love seeing the bigger deposit showing up every month. Frank took his at age 62 and that made him happiest since he retired at a younger age than me.

It seems to me that the best time to take SS is whenever makes you happiest, makes the most sense to you, and fits in with your financial planning.

 

[Which Roger]

It depends. Everyone's circumstances are different. There are numerous factors to consider. I encourage you to read the many other threads on this topic in the forum.

 

[pacergal]

+1

I took mine at age 70, and that is what made me happiest. I love seeing the bigger deposit showing up every month. Frank took his at age 62 and that made him happiest since he retired at a younger age than me.

It seems to me that the best time to take SS is whenever makes you happiest, makes the most sense to you, and fits in with your financial planning.

+1

It depends. Everyone's circumstances are different. There are numerous factors to consider. I encourage you to read the many other threads on this topic in the forum.

+1

It really is a personal decision. Everybody's answer will be different, along with their reasonings, budget, other income flows.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

DW took at 62, I am taking at 69. See: ..........................

https://opensocialsecurity.com/

 

[Freedom56]

I just took it a 62 as my pension drops by the SS amount starting at age 62. The break even is age 78 if I deferred to age 66. My wife will take it at 62 also but she is 54 now.

 

[bloom2708]

Live long enough and it is a mute point.

Take at 62 and do everything right to live to 115.

 

[Dtail]

The most frequently asked financial question here for the most part.
Lots of threads on this topic, with a few exceptions, no truly exact answer.

 

[statsman]

DW insisted on taking SS at 65. I'll probably do the same.

 

[Souschef]

M late wife had a brain aneurysm at 56. She took her SS at 62 and passed away at 68.
I took it at 65 and am now 84 and way past the crossover point.

 

[MRG]

DW was on SSDI till she turned 65 then transitioned to SS. I'm 65 now and haven't taken it, my FRA is 66.5, I'll wait until then at least. My plan was always to wait until 70. I'll review every 6 months after FRA. I'm getting itchy to get a paycheck again.

OP there's no right/wrong answer to when YOU should take your benefit. There are hundreds of threads on when people should take SS and there's no true answer for everyone. Like someone said upstream when is your expiration?

Will SS be around in its current form in 2030 and beyond? I don't know the answer but I'm pretty sure it will be. Our quality of life would be diminished by a $0 benefit, I know many that would be homeless without theirs.

 

[Bamaman]

MegaCorp retired us 55+ year olds in 2008 overreacting to economic times. I had to draw my SS at 62 as we had too many cars/houses to maintain. And all our parents' generation were still alive. Had I known I was going to receive a substantial inheritance, I would have drawn on my 401K/IRA and held off on the SS until much later.

At age 72, I'm now having to make RMD's this year and get into that IRA Rollover account. I just wish they didn't make me have to withdraw so much as I don't need the funds for any reason. And 2022 is not a good time to cash in on equities.

 

[latexman]

DW and I plan to coordinate claiming SS per opensocialsecurity. DW will claim on her record at FRA/66.5. I will claim on my record at 70, at which time DW will claim spousal.

Will SS be around in 2034? Yes, I hope so.

 

[Alex The Great]

Will SS be around in 2034?

Most likely yes, but with one or more of the following changes:
- benefit reduced (unlikely to happen but there is a chance)
- COLA reduced
- tax on SS raised based on additional income
- retirement age increased

 

[jollystomper]

Everyone has a different situation and different priorities, so there is no real "best" age.

Since retiring, and seeing that we will not need to take SS early, my priority is to maximize my SS for survivor benefits. So my the current plan is to wait until 70.

This is something I re-evaluate every year. At retirement I was looking at taking it as early as age 65, but now that is next year, and we are still very comfortable financially without it.

DW chose to take hers a few moths after turning 62, but it is much lower than her future spousal benefits, and the analysis at the time showed it made sense to do that.

 

[Sunset]

At FRA?
At 70
At 62
Will SS be around in 2034?

You need to supply more info to get anything close to a reasonable answer.

If you are married, and your spouse worked only a little or not at all, and you love your spouse (or at least feel responsible) then age 70.

If single, then more likely a lower age, unless you are worried about future inflation and don't have a COLA pension. SS is about the BEST COLA pension for most people.

I'm planning to wait until 70 as I don't have any pension, so this will be a good pension for me that will keep up with inflation, a stable income each month.

 

[COcheesehead]

It’s the same no matter what. You get less for longer if you take it early or you get more, but for a shorter time if you wait.

 

[cbo111]

Like many others have said, the decision is not one size fits all. It does require you to be realistic with yourself about life expectancy, which can be a bit uncomfortable. In my case, while I am perfectly healthy now at age 64, I decided to take it at 62 because I had one form of cancer years ago that required surgery and some nasty chemo. Then, many years later another cancer that required radiation. I would be pleasantly surprised to make it to 80, but realistically not expecting that.

 

[old medic]

The best depends on a bunch of factors.. and they probably will change with each year.

 

[Chuckanut]

At FRA?
At 70
At 62
Will SS be around in 2034?

1. Do you wish to leave an estate to anybody?
2. Do you have enough funds to cover your expenses until 70?

If the answer to #1 is No. And the answer to #2 is Yes. Then, Read on.

Maximize SS how much you get to spend​

Here is a pretty simple calculation for those that wish to spend more money in retirement and do not care about leaving an estate. For those that have a Big enough Portfolio and can afford to wait until 70 to take SS, you'll have more to spend every year of retirement.

Let's Say you retire this year at age 62 with the $1 Million Portfolio and decide to take a 4% SWR. You get Social Security of $19,476 per year at age 62 and delaying to age 70 would get you $34,092 per year. Let's assume no inflation for ease of calculations.

Scenario age 62. Your SWR is $40K per year and Social Security of $19,476 gets you a Spending total of $59,476 for each year of your retirement period.

Scenario age 70. You stash 8 years of $34,092 from your portfolio into a savings account for a total of $272,736. Your portfolio is now down to $727,264. Your 4% SWR is now $29,090 per year and you remove $34,092 from your savings account giving you a total of $63,182 to spend each year for the rest of your 30 year retirement period.

The Delay to age 70 gives you $3,706 more every year starting at age 62 with no more increased risk.

No need for any ... 'break even analysis'.

If your WR is more conservative, such as a majority of the people here and myself, the results are even more compelling. At a 3% WR plus SS at age 62 scenario is a total of $49,476 and the age 70 scenario is $55,910. The delay of SS to age 70 now increases your annual spending by $6,434.

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/laurence-kotlikoff-maximize-my-ss-com-77660.html#post1604411

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

I took mine as soon as I retired which was 63 and 4 months.
My reasons:
I’m not married and no one will be entitled to my SS once I die.
I can however leave a portion of my pension to my adult kids. Taking SS at retirement allowed me to do that.
I don’t gamble. I think waiting until 70 is gambling with the government that you will live long enough to recoup or exceed the SS you could have received in earlier years.

Will SS be around in 2034?
I went to work for local government agency that did not participate in SS in 1986.
I was 27 and thought- who cares, it won’t be around when I’m old enough to collect. Yet, here I am collecting it. I went on to work at local governments that did participate in SS. I think I was around 55 when I realized I would actually be eligible to get something! Luckily those last 16 years were at max contribution.

It will be here in 2034. My guess on changes- eliminate the income limit for FICA- I thought it was nuts when I found out there was a cap.
I also think that they won’t raise the retirement age of 67 but maybe decrease the increase in benefits from 67-70 and increase 70 to 75. So, the SS amount someone would receive at 70 with today’s calculations would be increased to 75.
My crystal ball is in the shop though so I could be way off. [emoji38]

 

[Sunset]

It’s the same no matter what. You get less for longer if you take it early or you get more, but for a shorter time if you wait.

Right, but there are other factors that weigh towards taking it at age 70, like the spousal survivor, leaving room to do Roth conversions, etc.

Taking it at age 62 is great if low IRA balances, single, and plan to die at age 83

 

[jldavid47]

At age 72, I'm now having to make RMD's this year and get into that IRA Rollover account. I just wish they didn't make me have to withdraw so much as I don't need the funds for any reason. And 2022 is not a good time to cash in on equities.

Well, you knew the rules when you put the money in. Also, you cannot rollover any RMD money into any kind of IRA account (not sure if that's what you meant from the wording). If you don't need the money, pay the taxes and put the balance into a taxable investing account or give it away. If you don't want to pay taxes consider making a QCD directly from the IRA with the money you don't need.