However, individuals may begin
taking Social Security retirement benefits early beginning at age 62.
The common wisdom seems to be to wait as long as you can to start
taking Social Security retirement benefits.
First a little background: You have three options for when to begin
taking your Social Security retirement benefits: You may begin taking benefits between age 62 and your full retirement age, you can wait until your full retirement age (which varies depending on your age), or you can delay benefits and take them anytime up until you reach age 70.
They may not be able to bear the thought of working another three years, and find that the only way out of that is to start
taking social security retirement benefits before reaching full retirement age.
Taking Social Security retirement benefits at 62 only makes sense in a limited number of circumstances, such as if you are single and terminally ill.
This has a compounding benefit, because by working longer — and waiting to
take your Social Security retirement benefits (until as late as age 70)-- you'll meaningfully increase your fixed income source while (hopefully) increasing your personal retirement savings as well.
Not exact matches
You may not want to work in
retirement, but
taking on a part - time job the first few years so you can delay claiming
Social Security benefits could significantly boost the
benefit you receive.
The size of your
Social Security check increases by a certain percentage for each month you delay
taking benefits beyond your full
retirement.
How much risk you can afford to
take with your investment portfolio during
retirement, or when approaching it, depends on your cash flow from available income streams — such as pensions,
Social Security benefits or annuities — and doing a thorough cash - flow analysis is paramount.
I plan on
taking Social Security at 66, because that will be full
retirement age for me, and my wife will receive 50 % of my
benefit when I claim it (the max she can get).
Taxes on
Social Security benefits take a further bite out of
retirement budgets.
If your budget for early
retirement includes working part - time and getting
Social Security benefits, you could
take an unexpected financial hit.
If you plan on
taking Social Security benefits before you reach your full
retirement age — which is currently as old as 67 if you were born in 1960 or later — your
benefits might be reduced even if you only work part - time.
You can begin collecting
Social Security at 62, but if you start
taking your
benefits before reaching your full
retirement age — 65 to 67, depending on when you were born — your
benefits will be reduced.
The materials in this toolkit are designed to educate workers approaching
retirement about their options for
taking Social Security benefits, and about why it can pay to wait.
You started saving early to
take advantage of the power of compounding, maxed out your 401 (k) and individual
retirement account (IRA) contributions every year, made smart investments, squirreled away money into additional savings, paid down debt and figured out how to maximize your
Social Security benefits.
«Deciding when to start
taking your
Social Security benefits is one of the most important
retirement planning decisions we face,» Ken Hevert, senior vice president of
retirement at Fidelity Investments, told CNBC.
When to claim
Social Security benefits will be one of the most important decisions that you make regarding your
retirement, along with how to
take retirement income from your various
retirement accounts and how you will fund your health care needs in
retirement.
But if you start
taking Social Security before your full
retirement age (FRA), you are permanently limiting your partner's survivor
benefits.
If you're looking for a lower - key, less - costly
retirement,
taking your
benefits early — and receiving smaller
Social Security payments — might make sense.
How much you've saved for
retirement will play a key role in how early you should
take your
Social Security benefits.
As the site shows, if you start
taking your
Social Security payments before you hit your full
retirement age, your monthly
benefit will be lower.
You can determine how much of a hit you'll
take claiming
benefits early by visiting the
Social Security Administration's
retirement planner site.
Taking Social Security benefits before your full
retirement age will cost you in the form of a lower monthly payout.
On the other hand, if your husband delays receipt of
benefits until age 70, he earns delayed
retirement credits and he locks in a
benefit that is 32 % higher than the amount he receives at full
retirement age (age 66) and 76 % higher than the
benefit he would have received had he started
taking benefits at age 62 (Source:
Social Security Administration).
The problem with having student loan debt in
retirement is that your
Social Security benefits can
take a hit if you default on what you owe.
The same might be said for
social security benefits --(a)
take it at age 62, (b)
take it at «full
retirement age», or (c)
take it at age 70, what is the right decision for you?
Our Services and Fees Whether you need a comprehensive financial plan or just have questions about educational planning,
retirement readiness, or when to
take Social Security benefits (or other issues), Safe Harbor offers the right level of services that you need now at a reasonable cost.
Upon returning to the workforce, Cheryl
took the steps necessary to become a licensed financial services professional and quickly realized the vast majority of current and prospective retirees did not have access to the advice and resources required to make an educated decision on, what in most cases, will prove to be one of the most critical financial decisions they'll ever make; when and how to claim
Social Security retirement benefits.
Khalfani - Cox cites some alternatives to help people hold off
taking early
Social Security benefits: Save more during working years, stay in their jobs longer, or work part - time in
retirement.
Lower - earning spouses who claim their own
Social Security benefit before full
retirement age
take a cut of as much as 25 %.
That is, the so - called increase in the
Social Security monthly
benefit if you delay
taking benefits beyond your normal
retirement age is at least in part due to the fact that a «fixed pot of money» is being divided into larger chunks at age 70 (fewer months to live) than at age 67 (more months to live).
The key job of a
retirement financial advisor is to help determine the best time to
take key steps — such as making
retirement saving account withdrawals, rebalancing investments or beginning to collect
Social Security benefits — that will help you experience the
retirement you envision.
Taking your
benefits at age 62 means a permanent 30 percent reduction from your full
retirement benefit, according to the
Social Security Administration.
Deciding when to
take Social Security benefits is a personal decision that you should make as part of a comprehensive
retirement plan with your spouse as it might affect their spousal
benefits down the road.
The problem with having student loan debt in
retirement is that your
Social Security benefits can
take a hit if you default on what you owe.
You can begin collecting
Social Security at 62, but if you start
taking your
benefits before reaching your full
retirement age — 65 to 67, depending on when you were born — your
benefits will be reduced.
Social Security benefits are increased by a certain percentage (depending on date of birth) if a person delays
taking retirement benefits beyond full
retirement age.
File and Suspend allowed you (generally the higher earner in a couple) to file for, but suspend
taking, your
Social Security retirement benefits while permitting your spouse and / or eligible dependents to collect
benefits based on your earnings record.
They can
take Social Security disability or
retirement benefits, but no more than 15 % of the total
benefit.
If you
take Social Security between age 62 and your full
retirement age, your
benefits will be permanently reduced to account for the longer period you will be paid.
If you plan to gradually transition from full - time work into full - time
retirement, that may require additional planning for when you'll
take Social Security benefits, for example.
Taxes on
Social Security benefits take a further bite out of
retirement budgets.
If your budget for early
retirement includes working part - time and getting
Social Security benefits, you could
take an unexpected financial hit.
Even people decades away from
retirement should pay close attention to how Congress just ended two lucrative ways of
taking Social Security benefits, known jointly as the «claim now, claim more later» strategy.
I understand that delaying
taking social security from full
retirement age (67, based on my birth year) until age 70 results in a 24 % increase in the monthly
benefit, or 8 % per year.
As mentioned before, another way to boost your
Social Security income is to delay
taking benefits past your full
retirement age and right up until the age of 70.
Many people choose to
take Social Security benefits before they reach their full
retirement age.
You'll want to figure out the best moment to start
taking your
Social Security benefits, especially if you are relying entirely on
Social Security to pay for your
retirement living.
If there was a percentage increase in the average CPI - W for the third quarter of the current year over the average for the third quarter of the last year a COLA
took effect, then
Social Security will increase
retirement benefits by that amount.