We’ve all heard the advice: Wait until you’re 70 to claim Social Security and you’ll get a much bigger monthly check. Tim F., a retired health care worker from Arizona, followed this advice to the letter. But now, at the age of 75, he is struggling.
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GOBankingRates spoke to Tim to find out why he wishes he had taken advantage of his benefits. His opinion may just change the way you think about your retirement plans.
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Tim thought he was doing everything right.
“Everything you read says you should wait until 70 if you can,” he said. “I think I thought, well, I can, so I have to. I never stopped to think if that was the best plan for me.”
Tim liked the big monthly checks, but wasn’t sure they were worth the cost.
“Looking back, I would have liked that extra money while my wife was still around.”
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Tim’s wife, Sarah, died at age 68 before they could take their benefits together.
“Sarah and I had plans,” Tim said. “We were thinking about the passage of time when we should have been more aware of the time we had left.”
Tim isn’t sure what advice comes out of this other than to live for today (and make sure to go to the doctor regularly).
Tim said he didn’t think too much about how his health might change as he got older.
“I’m not as active as I was in my 30s — heck, even my 40s,” he said. “When you get older, a year means many changes in your health. I wish I had just taken the money earlier and spent less on travel and less on a high interest savings account. Hindsight is 20/20! “
Financial advisors talk about the “break-even point” – that’s the age at which the total benefits you get from waiting exceed what you would get by taking it earlier.
“They told me I was going to break 82,” Tim said. “But when you are 75, 82 years old you feel far away. I wish I thought more about enjoying the present instead of always planning for the future.”
Tim didn’t think about the possibility of investing some of his Social Security money if he ever did.