When should you really start Social Security? As a financial advisor, I've seen firsthand how

this decision could very well be one of the most important retirement decisions you make,

but with so many different variables to consider, how do you know which option is right for you?

Well, in today's video, I'm going to walk you through the pros and the cons, as well as

other considerations of collecting to age 62 versus 67 versus 70 to help you understand what

might be best for you. So before jumping right into the pros and cons, we have to lay the

groundwork by understanding some of the social security basics, some of the foundations,

because this information is what will be most relevant in determining the pros and the cons of

of each. So number one, the way that Social

Security is actually calculated is the Social Security Administration looks at your 35 highest

years of inflation-adjusted earnings. So there's an actual formula that dictates exactly what's

called your primary insurance amount, which sees the amount of Social Security benefit or

Social Security income

you are eligible for at your full retirement age.

This formula is based upon your 35 highest years of inflation-adjusted earnings.

So that's number one.

Number two, your full retirement age, so that age by which you get your primary insurance

amount is anywhere from age 66 to 67 depending upon the year in which you were born.

It used to be even earlier, but as they push the Social Security ages back, for those of you that aren't already collecting, your benefit age will be somewhere between 66 and 67, and that will be your full retirement age, and that's the age at which you receive your full benefit.

Now, we'll touch on this more later, but don't confuse full benefit with max benefit.

Full benefit essentially means you're eligible for 100% of your primary insurance amount.

There's actually ways to increase that even more, and we'll talk about those in just a bit.

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