6 Reasons Why Delaying Social Security Might Hurt Your Retirement
Stay Wealthy Retirement Podcast
Taylor Schulte, CFP®
4.7 • 678 Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2025
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most experts say the smartest Social Security move is to wait until age 70 to claim.
On paper, the logic seems simple—delay claiming, and you'll lock in a larger monthly check for life.
But here's what's interesting: only about 10% of Americans actually wait that long. 🤯
Nearly one-third claim Social Security at 62, and the majority file before full retirement age.
So are millions of retirees making a huge mistake… or is the conventional wisdom missing something?
In today's episode, I'm sharing findings from a new research paper showing why delaying until 70 isn't always the clear-cut, no-brainer strategy it's made out to be.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When it comes to Social Security claiming strategies, there's a message you've probably heard |
| 0:04.2 | over and over, and that is, wait until age 70 to maximize your benefits. On paper, the logic |
| 0:10.3 | seems simple, delay claiming, and you'll lock in a larger monthly check for life. But here's |
| 0:14.9 | what's fascinating. Despite that seemingly obvious math, only about 10% of Americans actually wait until age 70 to claim |
| 0:23.2 | their benefits. In fact, nearly one third of people claim as early as possible at age 62, and the |
| 0:30.8 | vast majority around 61% file before reaching full retirement age. So what's going on here? Are millions of Americans making |
| 0:39.1 | a massive financial mistake? Or is there something the experts are missing? The truth is, |
| 0:45.0 | the answer is not as black and white as most think. In today's episode, I'm sharing findings from |
| 0:49.9 | a new research article that presents valid reasons why waiting until age 70 is not always the |
| 0:55.9 | no-brainer decision it's often made out to be. |
| 0:59.5 | Welcome to another episode of the Stay Wealthy Retirement Show. |
| 1:02.6 | I'm your host Taylor Schulte, and every week I tackle the most important financial topics to help you stay wealthy in retirement. |
| 1:09.4 | And now on to the episode. Before we dive into the risks |
| 1:16.2 | of delaying Social Security, let's first understand why the popular broad-based recommendation is to |
| 1:21.6 | wait until age 70 to claim benefits. First, your benefit amount, your monthly check, |
| 1:27.3 | increases substantially the longer |
| 1:29.3 | you wait. For example, if you claim at age 62, you might get, let's say, $2,000 per month. But if you |
| 1:36.9 | wait until your full retirement age of 67, that amount jumps to $3,000. Hold out until age 70, and you're looking at $3,720 per month, a 77% increase from that age 62 amount. |
| 1:52.7 | Second, Social Security is one of the few sources of guaranteed inflation protected income available to most Americans. |
| 1:59.9 | In a world where pensions are increasingly |
| 2:02.4 | rare, this makes Social Security incredibly valuable. And third, delaying helps protect against |
| 2:09.5 | longevity risk, which is the possibility of outliving your money if you end up living longer |
... |
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