Why it’s financially-savvy to delay taking Social Security benefits

There’s no one way to fix a retirement savings shortfall — you’ll want to use a few techniques to sock away as much cash as you can to catch up. One way to stash away some big bucks is to delay taking Social Security benefits — and here’s why it’s worth it.

In today’s episode of Your Money Minute with Tracy Stewart, CPA, I want to talk about why you should consider delaying your retirement age and taking Social Security benefits later. Believe you me, this will help you stow away some serious money — and keep you from living under a bridge during retirement.

So, instead of taking your Social Security benefits at age 62 — what if you delayed it for eight years? You get a couple of benefits here. The first is that you work longer, which means more money in your pocket (and hopefully your savings account, too, *hint*hint*.) But also, by delaying your Social Security benefits until age 70, you’re going to increase the benefit amount by around 7%-8%, which translates to some big money.

Look, retirement is tricky — and Social Security doesn’t make it any easier. I really recommend you hire a financial advisor who is super savvy with Social Security. Did you know that a married couple has around 81 different ways they can do Social Security benefits? Talk about choices! You don’t want to go it alone — and honestly, you’ll be glad you spent the money and worked with a professional.

Financial independence is unbelievably liberating! Don’t dawdle on your retirement savings — having financial security for the many tomorrows to come is the key to living in financial freedom.

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