As you get older, you start thinking more about retirement distributions than contributions. One of the biggest questions that near-retirees have is the best age to start collecting Social Security benefits. Most people take the benefits right away, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the best thing to do. You can start collecting Social Security benefits any time between ages 62 and 70.
The best age for Social Security benefits depends on personal and financial factors, like your current cash needs, retirement plans, health and family history. Be sure you weigh the decision carefully and don’t hesitate to find a financial advisor to talk to if need be. The age you choose to start taking Social Security will affect the monthly amount you receive for the rest of your life.
How Social Security Works
Social Security is meant to supplement your retirement income and ease financial concerns as you get older. It’s essentially a support system for America’s elderly, enabled by the 1935 Social Security Act. Most beneficiaries are retirees and their families. However, disabled individuals and survivors of workers who have died are also eligible to collect Social Security benefits.
Workers make Social Security contributions each month, which appear on your paycheck as Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes. Upon retirement, you can begin to receive Social Security payments, which will continue throughout the rest of your life. How much you receive each month, however, depends on when you elect to begin taking benefits and whether you’ve reached full retirement age at that point.
Full retirement age is the age at which you become eligible to start receiving full retirement benefits. It was 65 for many years, but the Social Security Administration amended that rule in 1983 because of increases in average life expectancy. Now, depending on the year you were born, you reach full retirement age sometime between 65 and 67. Full retirement age rises gradually from 1938 onward. Anyone born after 1960 reaches full retirement at 67.
What to Consider When Deciding the Best Age for Social Security Benefits
You’ll receive reduced monthly benefits permanently if you start taking them before you reach full retirement age. And the reductions aren’t small: Benefits are reduced by 30% if you opt to start receiving benefits just five years early. If you wait until you full retirement age you’ll receive 100% of your benefits. You can also elect to postpone benefits beyond full retirement age, up until you are 70. The monthly amount you will receive in the future increases each month you wait to start receiving benefits. If you can wait until the last possible month, your check will be 132% of the full retirement benefit.
So, it’s almost always best to delay Social Security benefits for as long as you can. If you plan to work in retirement, you’ll definitely want to delay. You’ll face a penalty if you continue to work after you claim early retirement benefits and earn more than the yearly earnings limit, which for 2019 is $17,640. This limit will be $18,240 in 2020.
However, it only makes sense to wait until you’re 70 to start receiving Social Security benefits if you expect to live until you’re at least 80. To wait that long, you’ll also need to have income or sufficient savings to live off of until you opt to start receiving benefits. If your health is poor or you don’t have the means to fund yourself, then 62 might be the right age for you to start taking benefits. Just be sure you budget for the reduced amount of benefits that you’ll receive.
Finding Your Break-Even Age
Luckily, there is a way to determine the exact best age for you to start Social Security benefits. Your break-even age occurs when the value of your highest possible benefit (achieved by waiting until age 70) exceeds the value of your lower benefit (taken in early retirement). This calculates the financial return you’ll receive by waiting. If you think you’ll live well beyond that age, it may be worth the wait.
Keep in mind that those who start collecting benefits later will collect less and forgo potential interest earnings. But if you die before you hit the break-even point, the reduced benefits won’t matter. It’s essentially a game of hedging your bets. You want to take benefits when you can, but not before you need to.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to calculating the best age for starting to collect your Social Security benefits, there’s no one-size-fits all answer. As a rule, it’s best to delay if you can. If you’re in good health and don’t need supplemental income, wait until age 70. But waiting gets a lot more complicated when you factor in your financial needs and health. Whatever you decide, be happy with it. You worked hard for your Social Security and, hopefully, made an informed decision about when to start taking it.
Go to www.socialsecurity.gov if you’re ready to apply for benefits, want to review your statement or need to change any account information.
Tips for Ensuring a Comfortable Retirement
- Save, save, save. To be able to put off taking Social Security benefits until you’re 70, you’ll need to have enough stashed away to live off of until then. Our retirement calculator can help you figure out how much you’ll need to save to retire comfortably.
- Start saving early, and take advantage of employer matches. With our 401(k) calculator, you can see how much your 401(k) will be worth when you reach retirement.
- Think hard about where you want to retire. Not all states are equally tax-friendly to retirees. Use our retirement tax-friendliness tool to see how tax-friendly your home state is, and whether Social Security benefits are taxable at the state level there.
- If you want someone to help you identify and reach your financial goals, you might want to engage a financial advisor. A matching tool like SmartAsset’s SmartAdvisor can help you find a person to work with to meet your needs. First you answer a series of questions about your situation and your goals. Then the program narrows down thousands of advisors to three fiduciaries who meet your needs. You can then read their profiles to learn more about them, interview them on the phone or in person and choose who to work with in the future. This allows you to find a good fit while doing much of the hard work for you.
Photo credit: ©iStock.com/SeventyFour, ©iStock.com/SIphotography, ©iStock.com/CasarsaGuru
