Most people are aware that the longer someone waits to start collecting Social Security benefits the higher their month payment will be. The age where a beneficiary collects the highest monthly amount is 70 after 70 there is no incentive to continue to wait to receive benefits because the amount will never increase above the age 70 amount, but most Americans do not plan on waiting until 70 to start receiving benefits. A recent survey released by ThinkAdvisor indicates that 90 percent of Americans plan to collect Social Security benefits prior to age 70. Below is a brief synopsis of the high points of the survey.
- Schroders surveyed pre- and post-retirees 45 and older and found that only 10% planned to wait until 70 to claim benefits.
- Three in four respondents said they were concerned about how to find additional income or draw down assets in retirement.
- Advisors should educate themselves and their clients on Social Security benefits in addition to individual portfolios.
The earliest a person can start receiving benefits is 62, but at age 62, known as early retirement, the beneficiary faces about a 20 percent reduction of what their full retirement amount would be and even less than that if they decided to wait until age 70. Many things go into the decision of when to start collecting Social Security benefits like current finances, future plans and health.
Social Security Employees Facing Payment Issue
A recent story in the Government Executive reported that more than 900 Social Security employees received a rude awakening when they noticed that their paycheck amounts that were deposited were $0 for a pay period that ended July 2. Of course this was a mistake that agency officials said was a mistake by the Interior Business Center, which provides payroll services to more than 100 federal agencies, but when your paycheck reads $0 there is trouble brewing. Social Security reported that the problem would be corrected and “that the affected employees would receive a partial payment on time,” but no word on when these employees would receive their full paycheck. This problem is not likely going to improve relations between the agency and the Social Security employee union. These two entities have been squabbling about Social Security’s plans to bring employees back to work and even before COVID-19 the agency had been trying to limit the ability of employees to work from home.
