The question of when to claim Social Security benefits is on every senior’s mind. Should you do it late? Should you do it early? What’s on everyone else’s mind and what made them decide way ahead of time?
First of all, let’s clear the air a little bit. Your benefits are based on your wage history. More specifically, they’re calculated depending on your 35 highest paid years. You can claim them in full when you reach your full retirement age, which is different for everybody because it’s based on your birth year. For some, this might be at 66 or 67.
But if you decide to claim before that time, you’ll see a decrease in monthly checks. However, if you wait until you’re 70, you’ll stand to gain more. That’s the reason why deciding on when to do it isn’t so cut and dry.
Here are five reasons you should withdraw the money as early as possible, when you turn 62, and 5 other reasons to wait until later. At the end of the day, it’s up to you, but we hope these tips will help put your finances into perspective and make it easier for you to decide.
