Retirement Age

I've stopped counting the number of people who tell me they're starting Social Security as soon as they turn 62--the earliest age possible--because it's become too frequent of an occurrence. For most people, this is a poor financial decision since their Full Retirement Age (FRA) is 66, and taking benefits four years early will reduce their monthly benefit by 25%. (1) But here's the thing: They know their decision will lead to a permanent reduction in their payouts, but they don't care. They're more worried about Social Security's future than they own, and think that they should get what they can, when they can. This is not smart financial planning. Studies show that neither socio-economic status or education level has much bearing on making this decision. If anything, the tendency is somewhat higher among people who could afford to wait until FRA and have adequate resources to draw from in order to generate the income they'd need in order to wait until their 66th birthday.Even if you s...

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