In today’s article we will discuss the three biggest reasons why you should take Social Security as soon as possible as there is no reason to delay applying your social security benefits. I will discuss as to why you need to take it exactly right away, which is definitely going to benefit you rather delaying it for later age.
So, when it comes to you maximizing your retirement, your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and other social security benefits timing of applying for your social security is very important. As per my personal experience applying it in as early as possible is better as no body knows about future that what will happen to Social Security Benefits as according to some experts Social Security Administration will run out of money by 2035.
I think deciding when to take the Social Security is one of the biggest decisions you make after working for years and years. So, it can have a swing of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in your lifetime of money, of benefits depending on when you choose to start.
Today’s article will discuss some very common scenarios where people in these scenarios tend to want to take social security benefits as soon as possible and it makes sense for them to take benefits as soon as you are eligible for the same. Following are some of the reasons to take Social Security Benefits as soon as possible:
Reasons No. 1
When we compare unmarried and married persons with regard to when to take social security and whether it is better to take it early or delay it till your full retirement age there is huge difference between the both. There are many both pros in corn in taking social security benefits early or delaying it to a later date. So, if you are single and you have health issues, you should take social security early as if your health further deteriorates, it will render you unable to work and if you are already retired its definitely gonna help you in all perspective.
So in this situation is your best decision to make and delaying your social security is not going to help you. But when it comes to a married person with no health issue delaying taking your benefits could help you to some extent. Also you are not like the single person we discussed above who has nobody to rely on his social security benefits to some degree. To sump up, if you single, you don’t have to deal with many situation faced by a married person who needs to take a very careful decision when it comes to taking the social security as his other family members especially his/her wife is possibly going to be dependent on their social security benefits.
So, in a nutshell, if you are single and have health issues and your life expectancy is shorter than the average person, then there is no reason to do delay taking your social security benefits. However, if your married and are in good health you can delay your social security unless you are 70. As I discussed earlier that both taking social security early and delaying have different pros and cons.
It is important to note that if you are already 70 then do not delay and take retirement right away as further delay is not going to help you in any way. Moreover, if you are single and having health issues then you should take your social security benefits as soon as possible. According to some experts, in said scenario taking social security at age 62 is advisable.
Reason No. 2
If you are the low earner but your spouse is high earner and they out-earn you significantly, that probably means their Social Security benefits are going to be a lot bigger than yours. So being low earner you should take your social security benefits earlier and the reason for this is that spouse your spouse’s benefit is $3,000 a month and your benefit is $1,500 so what happens if one of you passes away?. Suppose your spouse passes away then your benefits as the lower benefit person actually get knocked off and you start receiving what they were receiving. Now, what if we flipped it around, what happens if you pass away, if you pass away, being low earner, your benefit drops off and your spouse keeps their bigger benefit.
So long story short, as the person with the lower benefits, your benefit is only going to last your lifetime and it’s not going to pass over into your spouse’s lifetime at all. So it lasts less time and to be fair, it matters less. So, if your benefit is only going to last your lifetime, then there tends to be more reasons for the low earner, the low earner to take benefits as soon as possible. There is always exceptions, but generally speaking, if the lower earner takes it right away, the person who has a higher benefit has more incentive most of the time to delay because their benefit is going to last both of your lifetime.
If your spouse passes, their benefit sticks around for you, the higher person benefits sticks around. And so this person may be inclined to delay benefits to make sure the low earning spouse is taking care of the rest of their life as well.
Reason No. 3
This reason is not as good as we discuss above two reasons, but it is the legitimate reason that a lot of people run into and if you simply just need the money, if you need it, if you say, look, I would love to delay social security, get some more later if I could, but I can’t afford to, I need to take it as soon as possible. And if that’s the case, if you don’t have, let’s say, a strong TSP, a healthy TSP, to help you fill the gap when you delay social security, then guess what? You’re probably just taking it right away. And again, no one wants to be in that situation.
We’d much rather have lots of options in your arsenal of what to do and have a healthy TSP to fill in a gap, but that simply just doesn’t happen all the time. Now, again, this is only one aspect of social security to look at, there’s lots of aspects to make sure you are making the best decision for you, but these are some general principles and general situations as I’ve seen where it’s made sense to go ahead and take social security ASAP.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed at length different aspects of taking social security benefits as soon as possible. It would not be wrong to say that the advantages of taking social security at earlier possible date greatly outweigh the disadvantages. So you should carefully read this article and decide if it is best time for you to apply for retirement and enjoy rest of your life with your loved ones rather keeping yourself busy in job for no reason. I hope that’s helpful and for any further query you can leave your question in comment section and I will try to address your query as soon as possible. Thanks for taking your time to read my article.
FAQs
Q. What is the earliest age to apply for Social Security Benefits?
A. You can start receiving your social security retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, delaying it to age 70 will increase your benefits.
Q. What is the highest Social Security Check at age 62?
A. When you retire, different factors are considered that how much will be your social security benefits. However, as of December 2023 the maximum Social Security Retirement Benefit at age 62 is $2,572 per month.
Q. What is the advantage of taking Social Security Benefits Early?
A. One of the biggest advantages of taking your social security benefits early is that you collect your benefits for longer period of time.
Q. What is the disadvantage of taking Social Security Benefits Early?
A. The downside of taking social security benefits early will cause permanent reduction in your Social Security Retirement Benefits.
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