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Pittsburg, Kansas | Depends on how long you figure on living. And if you have enough resources you do not need the SS benefits now.
If you need the income now, take it now. If you don't waiting can make the payments bigger.
If your wife also worked and would have potential benefits, one option is for you to wait till a later age and take hers as soon as it is available. Because they only give you as much as what the largest one would be. I wish I would have done that.
We both took it at about 65 which was our earliest available. My reasoning was this. Wife and I like to travel plus I was diabetic. Was not sure if I waited till 70 the extra income would mean much to me if we got to where we could not enjoy it. So I took it early and as it was "found income" for us plus not having to buy health insurance with Medicare Advantage Plan we had the extra money to travel and enjoy life while our health still allowed. We would not "need" SS to retire comfortably.
Now I am 70 and in probably as good as if not better health than I was at 65 (when I had recently been 100 pounds heavier, on multiple medications and taking 4 insulin shots a day - with diet change I lost the 100 pounds, got off all medications inculding no more insulin shots).
My wifes SS benefits amounted to about half of what mine was. So the two together total is no more than what mine alone would have been. In retrospect I wish we would have taken her half size payment and let mine grow till the age of 70 before taking it. We would have only had half the SS income during that time but now my payments would be quite a bit bigger. A mistake I made, in both estimating my health, potentially my life length and getting the most out of our SS benefits. Oh well. Only one of a million mistakes I have made in my life. No big deal.
If you are going to die at 70 or even 75, better take it now. If you are going to live to 100, take it later so you can get higher payments. If you can afford to do without the income now.
My non medical, non nutritional, non accountant, non retirement planner advice, non any advice. I don't give advice. Only discuss topics of interest to me. Take my opinion for what it is worth, exactly what you paid for it.
Edited by John Burns 11/8/2024 10:46
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Social Security
