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Experts Say Too Few Wait Until Age 70 to Start Social Security. More Should.
One thing is clear– holding off on claiming Social Security retirement benefits until age 70 will yield one the largest monthly payments available for the rest of one’s life. Yet a new survey from asset management company Schroders finds just 10% of nonretired Americans plan to wait until 70 to start their monthly benefit checks. Why? Lorie Konish answers it all in this piece, but a puzzling, troubling, and unfounded statistic is this one: The top reason for claiming early, cited by 44% of respondents, is the concern that Social Security may run out of money and stop making payments. Full CNBC piece here.
As an example of the leading thoughts on reforming Social Security, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC, Inc.) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. This can be achieved without tax increases by slight modifications to cost of living adjustments and payments to high income beneficiaries plus gradually increasing the full (but not early) retirement age. AMAC Action, AMAC’s advocacy arm, supports an increase in the threshold where benefits are taxed and then indexing for inflation, and calls for eliminating the reduction in people’s benefits for those choosing to work before full retirement age. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved for current and successive generations and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with many congressional offices and staff over the past decade.