Hi, I’ll be 62 this year, married , and are the primary earner , wife is 55 and will be a spousal earner and perhaps a survivor earner. I’ve read your responses to “taking early and investing” , in my case using the early age benefits as a delay to using retirement account withdrawals. In addition to any case to be made for continued growth in the retirement accounts, it also seems worthwhile to consider that the social security withdrawals starting at 62 have only 85% of the total taxes whereas the retirement income would be taxed at 100%. In my case that’s a potential $1,000 a year tax savings. I also did a comparison of cash flows starting at 62 and 66.8 out to 80 and 90 years old and range early withdrawal invested amount exceeds the later withdrawals in each case, of course includes the assumption of traditional stock market historical returns which I know is not a given.

Hi,

I answer the questions submitted to this forum, and my expertise is limited to Social Security benefits only. Therefore, I can't address much of what you appear to be asking. If you're considering applying for your benefits at age 62, though, I would suggest that you first read the following column that Larry wrote: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2014/03/26/economic-magic-pulling....

Also, you should be aware that if you file for benefits at age 62, your wife's potential survivor benefit rate would likely be limited to a maximum of 82.5% of your primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to the amount of their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing at full retirement age (FRA). You may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to help you determine the best way to maximize your benefits.

Best, Jerry