25.) Arrivity financial planners demystify the options around taking Social Security and what to consider when deciding when to take social security.
Not to be macabre, but if we knew the date that you would die, we could tell you with great accuracy which age it would be optimal to start taking your social security benefit. But even in that impossible scenario (i.e. we don’t know when anyone will die, our crystal ball ran out of magic decades ago), it still wouldn’t be a 100% straightforward decision of when to start taking your benefits because money earlier is usually preferable to money later, even if it is more money later.
Would you rather have $300,000 to spend in your 92nd year of life, or $200,000 to spend in your 60th year of life? Answers will vary, but generally money is often put to more uses when your health is better, and people are generally healthier when they are younger. That’s not to say you can’t live an extravagant, active life into your 90s, or that you won’t need money for long-term care or medical expenses.
Our financial plans can provide you with many helpful data points to assist with the decision of when to take social security by showing you the optimal age to start taking your benefit in terms of which results in the highest payout of money from the federal government, and what the “breakeven point” or age is for how long you would have to live for ‘taking a benefit later’ to “catch up” and provide the same amount of dollars versus taking the smaller benefit years or months earlier.
There are several important decision points in everyone’s financial life from which there is no going back. Surprisingly retirement, does not have to be one of them (you can always choose to work for income again) – but deciding when to start taking your social security benefit is a decision you cannot undo. Ensuring you have a 2nd and 3rd opinion from a team of Certified Financial Planners and using mathematical data to support your decision can ensure you make the right decision given your wholistic financial situation.
Please contact us at: Contact Arrivity or 206.217.2583 or info@arrivity.com if we can assist you or someone you know with financial planning.
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