Quote:
Originally Posted by Baz
My thoughts have always been if you don't "need it" - just wait until you can draw the full amount (for me it's at age 66).
I've even wondered about waiting longer, so the amount will grow.
I'm in perfect health and will be 64 in June so absent of any obvious health issues, expect to live a long life.
I also enjoy my work and don't plan on quitting - ever.
Then there's this argument:
More to consider:
And for those (like me) who plan to continue working - there's this:
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It's complicated and the answer is different for everyone
considerations
there is a penalty for taking it early, from 62 to full retirement age.
there is a bous for waiting and taking it after full retirement age
you must start Medicare @ age 65, if not taking SS you pay out of your pocket until you start ss, at which time it is taken from the monthly ss payment. The Medicare payment has been subject to fairly large increases for the last few years, if you are making payments from ss then you are save harmless and mostly exempt from these Medicare increases, if you are paying out of pocket you Medicare premium goes up every year until you start ss at which time the save harmless provision kicks in.
If you run the #s w/o the Medicare issue factored in and compare the full retirement date w/ the latest times of ss start(66 is full and 70 latest), the break even is @ ~180mo after that the total return for waiting exceeds the total return for earliest start.
It's difficult to adjust for the Medicare costs, some yrs it goes up a lot others not so much and inflation adjustments to ss further cloud the issue, But for most years and most time frames based on what's been happening lately Medicare cost increases greatly extends the break even date
It's best to get the actual #s that are available from SSi, but what they don't provide a great deal of info or guidance on is the Medicare aspect.