You should start taking SS as soon as possible. If you are still working, invest all of it in mutual funds/Roth depending on your tax rate. It will earn faster than the increase you get by waiting.
Problem is that at my income level, if I start receiving it at age 64, I’ll just have to pay it all back at the end of the year. But yes, that is what my wife did since she does not work outside the home.
Yup. Got laid off/retired the same day. Got my first ret check 3 weeks later and first SS chk 4 weeks later at 64 instead of 66 and a half. The difference wasn’t that much and would have taken years to equal what I got during the 2 and a half year early start.
Yeah, but if you are making a wage more than some amount - I think around 30K/year - then you lose benefits. If you have decent wage income it really doesn't make sense in that case.
Just today I was reading this...
For example, suppose at full retirement age (which is 67 if you were born in 1960 or later) your Social Security check is $2,000 per month (or $24,000 per year). At age 70, that check would be $2,480 per month ($29,760 per year). By waiting until age 70 to start taking benefits, by the time you reach age 83 you would have been paid a total of $386,880, compared with the $384,000 you would have gotten if you had started at age 67, even though you got income for three extra years. The average life expectancy of a 67-year-old is at least 85, and growing, so any year you live past age 83 is money in your pocket.
Basically, the advice to delay Social Security is correct.
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Excuse me??? This is only a $2,880 difference. Biig Whoop. I'd rather take and spend the $2000 per month now. While money is still worth something.
The article is full of other inconsistencies also. Yes, there are benefits to waiting. Like if you can afford to. But to always claim it is better to wait is false financial advice.
I do not recommend taking out a Roth account. You pay income tax up front. The likelihood of your living as long as you think you will is never one hundred percent. So why give the government something up front that, with proper planning, you may be able to avoid paying completely later?
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You should start taking SS as soon as possible. If you are still working, invest all of it in mutual funds/Roth depending on your tax rate. It will earn faster than the increase you get by waiting.
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Not only are you more likely to make up the taxes/lower $$, you’ll have something you can actually bequeath to family upon death.