Social Security Report

Delayed Filing For Social Security Benefits…Is It the Right Strategy for You? - The Motley Fool

Many folks have received advice from their financial advisors to hold off on starting their Social Security retirement benefits, certainly until their full retirement age (FRA) or until age 70 if possible. In many respects, this is a sound strategy, since waiting until FRA avoids the discount for early retirement, and waiting the additional years to age 70 adds value in the form of delayed retirement credits. For an FRA of 67, this could mean up to a 24% bump in one’s monthly benefit payment.

So is waiting always the “best” decision? In most cases, probably, but The Motley Fool’s Katie Brockman has some thoughts on two key considerations that should be evaluated when making this decision. In an article posted today on their website, she outlines these two considerations and offers insight into how they might impact you. Her material also adds credence to the benefit of delayed filing, along with thoughts on what to do if you’re rethinking a decision you’ve made to file early.

Read Ms. Brockman’s post here. In addition to her comments, though, here’s another thought on the early-vs-late filing quandary: Some folks make the decision to file as early as possible as the result of what they’ve heard about Social Security’s impending “bankruptcy.” We hear from callers often here at our Social Security Advisory Service who’ve heard that “the money is running out,” and we hasten to explain the the rumor mill has embellished the program’s solvency problem (the dissipation of cash reserves) to mean that benefits will disappear completely soon. That’s simply not true, although we include in our responses the truth that the program is facing financial difficulties that could, if not addressed by Congress, lead to Social Security being forced to operate on a cash basis, where cash going out is limited by income coming in. We know that there are proposals in Congress to address the problem, and that the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) has developed and is advocating for a solution that would preserve and modernize the program for generations to come. Check out the AMAC proposal here…

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