Taking social security at 70 is mostly government propaganda. Average Life expectancy is around 78. However, you would have to live to 85 to make taking social security at 70 a winning strategy. Only 13% of people make it to age 84. The only reasons to hold off taking social security at 70: You are financially well off without it, you're in excellent health, and your family members have lived into their late 80s.
The average lifespan is a bit misleading, yes the average is around 78 but if you make it to 60 your life expectancy goes up past 80. The average lifespan is weighed down by people who die in younger years, once you make it past the age of bad decisions you’re in the bucket who lives longer. All that said, when I take SS will be decided largely on what my job situation is at 62. If I’m happy with my job I’ll probably keep working, if not then I’m probably going to start collecting. Time is a commodity that’s limited, whatever you lose in dollars from SS you can work around, you can’t work around losing your healthiest years.
@@FreakyLynx I retired 8 years ago at age 62. I never once considered "Average Life Expectancy". Why? Simple, I only cared about my life expentancy. I looked at my family history. My dad died when he was 80. He did have brother who lived until 87, but he also had a brother and a sister who died in their 60's. My older brother died when he was 70 and our son died when he was 41. Ask your self a couple of questions when you are deciding when to start. Why do you think Social Security offers that "incentive" to wait. Do you think they do that because it's better for you? Or, do you think it's because it's better for them?. How many people who decide to wait and die before they collect anything? If we all knew, in advance, the date of our death then the decision would be an easy one. I took the bird in the hand approach. 8 years of retirement and I am sure I made the best decision for me. And that's the only opinion that matters. You will have decide what's better for you. I hope your decision works for you. At the end of the day, your decision is the only one that matters for you.
Also consider the combined longevity (as opposed to “life expectancy “) of both spouses. I am choosing 70, as my spouse will get my higher SS income if she survives me. If married always make the decision of when to file as a couple. In my case, simple actuarial estimates of longevity for a surviving spouse are to age 91.
There really is only one good reason to consider waiting until age 70 to start drawing your Social Security and that's if you already know, in advance that your going to live past 80. If you have a long history of folks in you family of living past 80 then it might be worth the risk. If you don't have that family history it's kind of short sighted to wait. I retired 7 1/2 years ago at age 62 and began taking back my Social Secuity right away. My dad died at age 80. He did have a brother who died at 87, but he also had a brother and a sister who died in their 60's. My older brother died when he was 70 and our son died when he was 41. Life is short. Far too short to waste time working when you don't have to. I mean do you really care how much money you leave behind for your family to fight over? I know I don't. Retire early. Take your money back as soon as you can and always remember this simple truth: More per month does not equal more total. The person who starts at 62 will recieve 96 monthly payments before the person who waits until age 70 gets their first one.
@@faketrump3605 The fact that none of us knows what the future will bring is one more reason to consider waiting a suckers bet. The bird in the hand approach won't let you down.
Good info! With the massive debt that the government has, I'm not sure how solvent SS will be in 5 years. We'll see if they try to carve out more benefits. The small cost of living adjustment that they gave was probably based more on solvency than real inflation numbers.
