When to begin taking Social Security benefits

Delay your benefits and watch them grow

Deciding when to begin taking Social Security is one of the most important retirement decisions you can make. You can start collecting as early as age 62, but your benefits will be reduced by as much as 25% to 30% from what they would be at your “full” retirement age (see the table on the right). Conversely, your benefit is increased by an annual rate of 8% if you delay taking benefits between your full retirement age and age 70.

Sometimes circumstances require people to begin taking benefits as soon as possible. But if you’re thinking about retiring early and receiving sufficient income from your retirement accounts, a traditional pension plan, and/or other sources, then you can be more flexible about when you begin taking benefits.

Another important factor to consider is your life expectancy. Regardless of when you begin taking benefits, Social Security is designed to pay you the same total amount over the life expectancy of everyone the same age as you. Because almost half of all Americans are expected to live longer than their life expectancies, taking higher, delayed benefits might make sense for you. If you’re in good health and your parents lived beyond their life expectancies, then you too might live beyond yours.

Married couples should also consider their ages and health when deciding the time to start taking their personal Social Security benefits, especially if one spouse earned more than the other. Under certain circumstances, the amount of Social Security survivor benefits for a lower-earning spouse could exceed his or her personal benefits. In such a case, the surviving spouse can elect to take the higher survivor benefit. To learn more about maximizing your benefits, or the benefits of you and your spouse, visit ssa.gov/retire/estimator.html or aarp.org/socialsecuritybenefits.

Deciding when to begin Social Security can be quite complex. Scarborough can help you determine the best time to start taking your benefits.

Let’s discuss the best time for you to begin taking your Social Security benefits.