It's the question that can keep you up at night after age 60: When should you start collecting your Social Security benefit? Some argue for delaying your federal retirement benefit until qualifying for the maximum amount at age 70. But there's one major reason why that's a bad idea.

Waiting until you're 70 to claim Social Security raises your monthly benefit, but it can lower your cumulative lifetime benefit. This happens if your lifespan ends up being shorter than the average. To put it bluntly, if you die before turning 80, you'll probably get less from Social Security by waiting to claim.

As you may know, you can start collecting Social Security anytime after age 62. But at that age, you qualify for your lowest possible benefit, and your monthly only increases over time (up to age 70).

Continue reading

Source Fool.com