5 SMART Reasons to File for Social Security at 62

Hello everyone, in today's video I want to separate fact from fiction about how to apply for

social

security

at age 62. Now, most of the information and advice found online shows that delaying filing is always the right thing to do and therefore applying for

social

security

. at age 62 is almost always a bad idea, now there's good reason to think that way because claiming social security at age 62 means receiving reduced benefits for life, but that advice is too broad because it's simply not true that filing at 62 years old is always a bad idea. This decision depends largely on your personal set of factors;

In fact, there are five specific circumstances where I think applying early makes the most sense and in this video we're going to examine each of them, but before we get there, if you're New to the channel, be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell. I can't say this enough. There are some big changes coming to social security in the coming years, and as these changes begin to unfold, I'll be here for it. channel to tell you about them and also be sure to download your free copy of my social security cheat sheet. This is like having the most important things on your 100,000-page social security website condensed onto a single page, such as annual limits.

The rules on reductions and increases and much more are there, they are updated every year and as long as you stay on my list, I will send you the updated version every year as soon as we have it. There's a link in the description where you can get yours today, you know before we get into a discussion about when it makes sense to

file

for benefits early. There is one really important thing you should know if you apply before your full retirement age. There is a limit to the amount you can earn from your work. Now I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about that limit here, but I have a video that covers this in detail and I'll link to it in the description below, just look for the section labeled resources.

There will be a lot there, I will say it is critical that you understand this clearly before applying for benefits early. Okay, so let's dive into the five

smart

reasons

to claim Social Security at age 62. Just make sure you keep an eye out for all of these because Number Five is about marital issues and I think for many of you this might be the most important one to understand and also in the comments below I would love to hear your feedback. At what age do you plan to apply for benefits? I look forward to it. Reading your answers and knowing that anything in this video changes your mind, the number one reason to apply at 62. just apply at 62 if you need the income, there's not much to think about here if You left your job plan to retire and you need this income, you just have to go apply, there are not many special strategies to implement here, but you know that many people leave work long before they want to leave, there have been multiple studies that have found that up to half of those who retired were retiring earlier than they wanted, according to a study I saw that looked at those who had left work earlier than they wanted, so 50 and they found that of those 50, More than half of those people were leaving because of a health problem or disability now the rest of them were dispersed; among other

reasons

, 24 percent left because the company they were with was downsizing or disappearing entirely. 17 percent left to care for their spouse or other family members, but I want to pause. for a moment and talk about those 55 who left work due to a health problem or disability.

If this describes your situation, you probably need the income from your Social Security benefit, but I want to make sure you apply for the correct benefit before you do so. Go out and apply for a retirement benefit, you should fully investigate whether or not you qualify for a disability benefit. Here's why, assuming your full retirement age is 67, if you claim those retirement benefits at age 62, you'll receive about 70 of your total. Retirement Age Benefit Amount If you

file

for disability and are found eligible for those benefits, the amount you would receive would be 100 of your full retirement age benefit even at age 62.

So, if you leave work due to a disability or due to some other health issue, take the time to consider filing for disability and listen, there is no shame in this. The same payroll taxes that fund retirement benefits also fund disability benefits, so you are as entitled to disability benefits as you are to your retirement benefits, okay, move on. For reason number two, you are single and have health problems, so if this is the case for you, you may want to use a simple balance analysis. This calculation compares what you will receive in lifetime cumulative benefits for filing at various ages, for example if you are trying to compare filing at age 62 with filing at age 67, it tells you that you would need to live past 78 for the presentation at age 67 makes sense compared to presentation at age 62.

Now you can run all kinds of age combinations in these calculations. But if you're single and have health problems, this is probably where it makes the most sense to file early, because you're not worried about increasing survivor benefits and the host of other factors that married people have to think about if they want to learn more. about. using a balance calculator I have a video that covers this along with a link to use the balance calculator I have created and it is yours to use for free it is below again in the resources section you do not have to register give me your email address or any thing, just go to the page and use it.

I'll link it all back in the description below and now to reason number three, you may want to consider filing early if you're eligible for a survivor benefit now. All of the strategies we cover today rely heavily on math, but in this one it's especially important to know how numbers work. If you are eligible for a survivor benefit, it might make sense to apply for that benefit from a young age. 60 and then switch to your own benefit until age 70. Let's look at an example and see how this would work. Let's say your own social security benefit at full retirement age is 1500 and the survivor benefit you have. eligible for is one thousand seven hundred fifty dollars if you file at age 62 your own benefit would be one thousand fifty dollars and the survivor benefit would be one thousand three hundred ninety four dollars now if you are going to file for benefits at age 62, it looks like you have It makes more sense to apply for a survivor benefit because it's higher, but that's not where it ends.

If you are entitled to a survivor benefit with the change strategy here, you would apply for a survivor benefit at age 62 and remember that you can apply for that benefit. as early as age 60 or even age 50 if you meet the social security administration's definition of disabled, but to keep everything the same in this example I want to use 62. Then you would start receiving your 1394 in benefits per month if You applied for that survivor benefit at age 62, but then at age 70 you would go back to receiving your own benefit from your job, and because your benefits increase each year between age 62 and 70, your own benefit would now be One thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars and that's not including any cost of living adjustments, so simply knowing that strategy will result in a benefit in the future worth hundreds of dollars per month.

Reason number four if you have minor or disabled children at home, if you have children, even eligible grandchildren or maybe even a spouse caring for those children at home, these family members may be eligible for a benefit, you just need to know Importantly, you must apply first, there is a rule that before benefits can be paid to anyone outside of your work history you must be receiving benefits and, when combined with your benefits, the benefits for Children and your eligible spouse can be up to 180 of your full retirement age benefits, so if you have children at home who meet the eligibility criteria, there is a clear reason to consider filing early.

Let's look at an example to illustrate this. Let's say you are 62 years old and your wife is 50. You have two children, ages 13 and 11. It might seem like it makes more sense to wait until full retirement. age where you would receive 2000 compared to the current filing where you would only receive 1500 per month, but again it is very important to remember that children cannot receive benefits until you file, this means your family could collect thousands of dollars more. in lifetime benefits if you file early and activate benefits for your children, so if you have eligible children, you need to go beyond the amount of benefits you can collect over your lifetime, you need to think about your benefits total relatives and now in the last reason.

Reason number five: marital issues. You know there are some factors to consider with spouses where filing early makes the most sense. There are things like your spouse's income, your age, your health, but I don't want to divide them all into their own categories because "We are all very related, just know that there are a few subcategories that we will cover here within the broad category of marital problems. The The first marital consideration we often talk about is when your spouse is younger than you and also has a lower income. In that scenario, your spouse will likely survive you and this means that your retirement benefit will likely become your retirement benefit. survival when you die In some cases, this is actually a reason to fall as late as possible because delaying your benefit would increase the survivor benefit you will receive for those extra years after your death, but if your spouse is in poor health, it is. less likely to survive you, so delaying your benefit strictly for the purpose of increasing your spouse's future survivor benefit simply doesn't make much sense.

Now that we're on the topic of survivor benefits, I think it's very difficult to make a decision about when to apply for benefits without understanding how survivor benefits actually work, so in the resource area of ​​the description below I've put a link to my video covering everything you need to know on the topic of survivor benefits. Another spousal consideration, if your spouse is the lower earner, is that you should be aware that your benefit may not reach the maximum potential benefit until the spousal payment is made. The portion takes effect and will not take effect until you apply for your benefits, so if your spouse's benefit is less than half of yours, keep in mind that it might make sense to file just to open your employment record and pay a spousal benefit.

You should also remember that a spousal benefit does not increase beyond full retirement age, so if your lower-earning spouse, older than you, is waiting to file, your own benefit may increase, but it won't necessarily increase. your lower-earning spouse's benefit, so A strategy like this depends largely on multiple factors, but when you compare the total amount of benefits you would both receive, this strategy could make a lot more sense than delaying yours because, again , remember that the spousal benefit portion cannot be paid until you file by delaying your benefit, you are also delaying your spouse's benefit now, like survivor benefits, spousal benefits are also one of those areas that you need to understand clearly in My video, How to Calculate Dual Entitlement Social Security Spousal Benefits, carefully covers how spousal benefits work between spouses. and again you can find that in the description below, so the two considerations that we just discussed are if your spouse has a lower income but if your spouse has a higher income and is in poor health, especially with a condition that has a high probability of finish.

In case of premature death you may want to consider filing early, this is because your benefit would be greater than yours and once you die your own benefit will stop and you will start collecting your deceased spouse's benefit, which will be paid later as a survivor benefit. so there really would be no reason to delay your benefit for increases when you will not receive those increases but for a short period and the same could also apply if your spouse is substantially older than you, so that's a quick summary ofFive scenarios where I think it makes the most sense to apply for social security as soon as possible, but again I think it depends largely on your individual circumstances and in the comments below let me know what I missed, there has to be something here.

There are other circumstances where it makes sense to apply early. I look forward to reading all the comments, even if I don't have a chance to respond to them. Hey, if you liked this video, could you do me a favor and give it a thumbs up? I think this information about social security is very important and YouTube will share it with a wider audience if you like it by pressing the like button. Be sure to check out the resources in the description for lots of other reading on what we do. I've talked about today and thank you very much for watching.