One of the most important decisions you will make in your entire life is when to claim social security benefits. Claiming them before your full retirement age — 66 years and 6 months for most older Boomers — can mean giving up a lot of money. Currently, seniors are leaving a lot of money o. The table by claiming their benefits too early — over $100,000 in lifetime benefits per household — and only about 4 percent are claiming benefits at the optimum time.
Key Takeaways:
- Delaying Social security from age 66 to 70 adds almost 50% to the payout.
- Only a small percentage of retirees are taking later payouts, and leaving lots of money on the table.
- Very often people are taking too early of a payout, from fear of losing out, or the fear of government changing their benefits.
“Or, for every year you delay Social Security beyond your full retirement age, your benefit grows by 8% until age 70.”
