The Number 1 Guaranteed Reason Financial Advisors Say Delaying Social Security to 67 Beats Taking It at 62 Quick Read – Waiting from 62 to 67 delivers a guaranteed 8% to 10% annual increase in your monthly benefit, a risk-free return no equity or bond investment can match. – If…
u are in your early 60s and staring at the Social Security claim button on SSA.gov, the most expensive mistake you can make is treating that decision like a stock trade. I’ve been covering retirement income strategy for more than a decade, and the claiming decision remains the single highest-leverage move most households will ever make
Financial advisor Julia Lembcke, speaking with Adam Taggart on the Thoughtful Money podcast episode “This Simple Strategy Can Save Retirees Thousands (or More),” put the math in language anyone can act on: “Between 62, the earliest you can take it unless you’re a widow or widower, between 62 and full retirement age, which is 67 now, those 5 years, your benefit, what’s paid to you, is increasing by 8% to 10% a year, guaranteed, right?” The stakes are simple. If you claim at 62, you are betting your retirement income floor against a benchmark almost no risk-free investment can clear. Get it wrong and you lock in a smaller monthly check for the rest of your life, and a smaller survivor check for your spouse.
The 8% to 10% annual guarantee Lembcke is right. Social Security’s benefit formula permanently reduces your monthly check if you file before full retirement age of 67 and raises it if you wait. For each year a person claims prior to the full retirement age, benefits are reduced by about 6.7%.