> if you wait until age 66 to take Social Security instead of taking it at age 62, you’ll come out ahead as long as you live to at least age 77-78 <
For me, that’s a key point. A person who’s 62 is still young enough to enjoy travel, etc. A person at 78, not so much.
I took mine at age 62, and I filed for it exactly 3months before my 62nd birthday so I would get paid when I turned 62. I figured I had 4 extra years of payments by taking 85% of what I was entitled to. I’m 63 1/2 now and we have been enjoying the extra income. Since my husband is nearly 7 years older than me and a cancer survivor with a quadruple bypass, I will probably outlive him, and will collect his SS as his survivor because it’s larger than what I collect anyway.
If I understand the social security payments they use the average life expectancy in determining how much your ss payment will be based on your age when you start receiving ss payments. For the average persons, the total amount you will receive from social security will be the same regardless of the age you start receiving benefits.
Good to know that The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI program, aka Social Security) is helping people afford travel. /s