What's more important to you?billthecat wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 10:59 pmWhat about if not married?SnowBog wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 5:22 amPerhaps...billthecat wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 11:33 pmGiven the same level of contributions, women get more social security benefits than men because, on average, they live longer. So is being male like having bad health? Meaning, should men claim social security sooner just by virtue of being male?
But if married, it's also common that the husband had higher SS earnings, and thus even if they die before "their" breakeven point on delayed SS, the surviving spouse likely comes out ahead (as you noted, the wife tends to live longer).
However, if you were a Meatloaf (singer) fan and are "praying for the end of time..."
Getting the "most" out of social security, especially if your are concerned you might not make it to the "average" life span? If so, claiming early might be an advantage, as we aren't guaranteed a tomorrow...
But if your most concerned with "not running out of money", especially if you happen to live longer than the "average" life span? If so, delaying is probably better...
However, there's "more to the story"...
Maybe you have a high 401k balance that will end up with massive RMDs if you don't do years of Roth conversions. That might be a case to delay, so that you have less "income" and thus can do more Roth conversions.
Or maybe your retirement funding is thin, and a few bad years of returns could jeopardize your retirement. That might be a reason to withdraw early, to have guaranteed income (especially if that covers a good chunk of your expenses so your need to withdraw from portfolio is minimal).
Ultimately, you have to balance multiple considerations, and make a judgement call on what's best for yourself. Resources like opensocialsecurity.com can help, as can things like retirement calculators (preferably ones that include taxes), so you can test out different scenarios with different SS dates / benefits, assets, etc. and find what works for you.