When to start collecting Social Security? This simple chart may help you decide.
What to do? When to apply? How long should I wait? Should I start collecting early? All of these questions go through the minds of most who are approaching 62, the age at which you become eligible to start collecting Social Security benefits. As most financial planners will tell you, it depends – on how healthy you are; on how much money you have saved; on whether you need the income now or can do without it for a while. Finally, there’s a fairly easy way to see the financial implications of taking your benefits at 62, or at your “full retirement age” (somewhere between 66 and 67 depending on when you were born), and at 70, the age when your benefit amount stops growing. This Motley Fool article by Sean Williams answers all those questions with a single, simple chart which lets you visually see your cumulative benefits at each of those ages. Click here to read more.