Social Security: Why You Really Need to Estimate Your Life Expectancy Before Claiming Benefits

Many seniors have a time hard figuring out when to claim Social Security because there are pros and cons to different options. Filing for benefits at age 62, for example, means getting your money sooner. But it also means slashing your monthly benefit for life.

Waiting until full retirement age (FRA) means not having to face a reduction in benefits. But it also means waiting longer to get your hands on your money. And while filing for Social Security at age 70 means snagging the highest possible monthly benefit you can get based on your wage history, it could mean having to delay retirement.

Now when you sit down to think about the right age to claim Social Security, you may be focused on what your monthly benefit will look like in each scenario. And that's an important thing.

Source Fool.com