I had to start collecting Social Security at 62, and I am 75 now. I believe that in the last 13 years I have saved Social Security money, so I do not know why I cannot draw my full benefits now.If I had started drawing at 65 at $1,200 per month, then I would have drawn $16,400 per year. Instead, I got $680 per month from 62 to 75, or $8,160 per year, or about $106,000 over 13 years. Compare that to the age 65 amount of $14,400 per year for 10 years, which is $144,000. So, by claiming at 62, at age 75 I have saved the government over $38,000. It would make seniors lives so much easier if they could draw full Social Security at 75 years old, after getting only part of their SS. Signed: Secondguessing Dear Second-guessing: The difference between benefits claimed at various ages causes many to reflect, as you have done, about what might have been had you waited longer to claim. But there is an error in your calculations. If your age 62 monthly benefit is $680, your age 65 monthly benefit would have been about $845, not $1,200. Thus, at 75 you would have collected about $101,400 by claiming at 65, vs. the $106,000 you have received by claiming at age 62. In other words, you still would not have broken even had you claimed at age 65.Social Security says that it doesn’t matter when you claim – they say that if you claim early your payments will be less, but you’ll get more of them. Where SSA’s argument falls apart is when life expectancy is longer. Our experience is that if you wait until your full retirement age (FRA) to claim (which is age 66 in your case), vs. claiming at age 62, you will collect the same amount of total money at about age 78. In other words, the “breakeven age” for waiting until FRA to claim is about 78. So, you will reach your personal “breakeven age” in about 2 ½ years (at age 78). And this is precisely why we encourage everyone to understand their life expectancy when deciding when to claim Social Security – those who expect to live longer will, indeed, get more SS money if they delay claiming.Your benefit is determined by your age when you claim, and if you claim before your FRA your ...
