3 Great Reasons to Take Social Security Benefits at 62
Retirees can choose when to start their Social Security benefits, beginning as early as 62 or opting to wait. But the program is designed to ensure that recipients get the same lifetime benefits no matter when they start collecting.
Those who claim at 62 face early filing penalties, while retirees who claim at their full retirement age (FRA) get their standard benefit, and those who delay beyond FRA -- up until 70 -- get larger checks due to delayed retirement credits. So in theory, this should equal out everyone's total benefits in the end: Those who wait longer will get fewer but larger checks, versus more checks but smaller ones for those claiming earlier.
But this doesn't always happen: The system is based on projected life spans, and you could live shorter or longer than expected. Because of that, it can be hard to decide on the best Social Security claiming strategy. Still, there are a lot of great reasons to start your benefits at 62, as soon as you become eligible. Here are three of them.
Source Fool.com
