When to start taking Social Security is a contentious topic, to say the least.
My recent column about the surging advice from TikTok and YouTube “finfluencers” to take Social Security at 62 — the earliest age allowed — and then invest those payments each month in stocks resonated with readers.
Thousands of you weighed in about what you did or plan to do, including whether you’re slowly fading into retirement by claiming your Social Security while still earning income from a job.
A quick recap of the rules
You can take Social Security as early as age 62, but your benefit can be slashed as much as 30% from what it would have been at your full retirement age (FRA). For anyone born in 1960 or later, your full retirement age is 67.
If you delay benefits from your full retirement age until age 70, you earn delayed retirement credits. Those come to roughly an 8% increase for each year until you hit 70, when the credits stop accruing.
If you continue to work after claiming Social Security benefits after age 62 and before your full retirement age, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will temporarily withhold a portion of your benefits for earnings over a certain threshold, roughly $23,000.
In the year you reach full retirement age, that limit increases threefold; and in the month you hit full retirement age, the annual earnings test ends. From that point on, you can earn without limitations, and while you don’t get the amount you forfeited previously in a lump sum, your monthly benefit is adjusted upward so you will recoup all the benefits that were withheld. This calculator on the SSA website walks you through the calculation.
Read more:What is the retirement age for Social Security, 401(k), and IRA withdrawals?
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By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy SubscribeThe do or don’t debate
Most financial advisers and retirement experts contend that for many people, delaying tapping into their benefit until age 70, if they can afford to, will deliver a larger monthly check for the rest of their lives.
The argument for taking it at 62 is that by investing your benefits in the market, your investment returns will make up for a reduced check.
The following is an edited sampler of some of those comments — and my take on them. Feel free to weigh in, of course, in the comments section at the end of this sequel.
Let’s get started:
It’s all a personal decision with no right or wrong answer. Why I took it when I did is irrelevant to the next person. Somebody's justification and analysis on waiting to 70 or taking at 62 or somewhere in between is their reason. It doesn't necessarily hold true for anybody else. So do what’s right for you.
Another reader chimed in:
Comments