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As retirement approaches, it is natural to want to claim social security as soon as possible. Even if waiting beyond the age of 62 to claim retirement benefits can give you larger checks, you still have to go through months, if not years, without getting anything from the program.
It can be difficult to analyze the trade-offs between more benefits later or getting the benefits sooner. But there are some situations in which it is usually logical to take a very close decision to take social security at 62 years of age. Here are some of the most important ones facing millions of retirees and near-retirees.
Source of the image: Getty Images.
1. When a family member is waiting for your request
In order for a spouse, child or other eligible family member to receive benefits based on your work history, you must first have applied for your own retirement benefits. This was not always the case, as retirees could use strategies such as progressive archiving to activate spousal or child benefits while retaining the right to receive a larger retirement payment in the future . Recent legislative changes have placed this restriction on virtually everyone seeking family benefits.
This occurs most often in single-earner families where the non-worker spouse is older than the working spouse. For example, a person four years older than you may have to wait 66 years to claim spousal benefits in order to give you the time to reach the minimum age of 62 to qualify for early benefits. . Waiting longer than that might not be a good option for your spouse in this situation.
In addition, child benefits are generally only available for a short period of time – until the child reaches the age of 18 or has graduated from high school. For the relatively rare situations in which a child is still below that age when you reach the age of 62, making an immediate claim could be the only way to get that child's benefits into plus regular retirement payments.
2. When a surviving spouse wants to maximize the total benefits
Unlike most benefits, the surviving spouse can decide separately on when to apply for survivor benefits based on the deceased spouse's employment history and when to claim their own pension benefits. Therefore, it often makes sense to claim early retirement benefits while allowing survivor benefits to continue to increase while waiting to claim them as well.
At first glance, it might seem that this would mean smaller checks than you would get if you asked for all your benefits at the same time. But because of the way social security calculates payments, you can often get almost as much by claiming one of your benefits, then more money later, once the other benefits have increased. It's one of the only situations in which Social Security basically allows you to take your cake and eat it too.
3. When you have to give up your benefits because of a public pension
One of the most hated social security provisions concerns employees who work in the public sector in a state that does not participate in social security. Thanks to the unexpected disposal provision, you can lose up to $ 447.50 per month in Social Security benefits if your career with a private employer was 20 years or less before working in the public sector. In extreme cases, this can absorb the full amount of your social security payment, although the reduction is also limited to half of your public pension.
If you become eligible for public pension benefits only at a later age, claiming social security before that age can give you a short period of full program payments. When the pension benefits start to be paid later, the Social Security Administration will not withdraw you from your previous social security, as the disposition for the elimination of windfall gains only applies to payments current and future.
Make the right choice
There are many situations in which waiting to take social security until well beyond 62 is the smartest measure. However, this is not always l & # 39; case. In these particular cases, claiming early can sometimes be the best decision you can make.
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