I will be 66 in April. I currently work and make $88k yearly. I would like to start my social security in May and invest a larger percentage of my pay to my 401k. I anticipate working only 18 more months.

Hi,

What you'd be choosing to do if you follow that strategy is take a permanently lower monthly Social Security benefit rate so that you can put more into a 401k. You're certainly free to do that if you so choose, but it may not be the best idea.

If you wait until age 70 to start drawing your Social Security retirement benefits, your benefit rate will be 32% higher than if you start drawing at age 66. That's an 8% annual increase that you're unlikely to achieve through other types of investments. For Larry's thoughts on this issue, you may want to read the following article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2014/03/26/economic-magic-pulling....

Before filing for your benefits, you should strongly consider using our software to explore and compare your options so that you can choose the best possible filing strategy.

Best, Jerry