Q & A
Is It Worth Taking Social Security Early And Investing The Benefits?
Answer: [sic] Not Recommended. Any higher return you can expect to earn — relative to the relatively high safe return Social Security pays from waiting to collect — comes with significant risk. So evaluating investments in the market, be it in a growth fund or not, requires adjusting for risk. You’ll find that the market return on safe assets pays the Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) rate, which is less than the implicit, roughly 3 percent return Social Security appears to be incorporating when it raises your benefits as a reward for your waiting to take them.
Source: Ask Larry Kotlikoff, PBS.