3 Reasons Why You Should Take Social Security Benefits At Age 62

That day has come and you have a decision to make - should I sign up for Social Security Benefits or should I wait? You can wait until your full retirement age (FRA) or up to age 70, in which you're allowed to collect your full monthly benefit based on your earnings history. You can boost your benefits by 8% each year if you delay your filings up until you reach the age of 70. Or, you can sign up for Social Security as early as 62 years of age.

Here are three reasons why you should claim your benefits at age 62:

1) You don't have enough personal savings. Most retirees need at least 70 - 80% of their previous income to live comfortably. Social Security usually replaces approximately 40% of that. Hopefully, you'll be getting a pension (very rare these days) or you'd contributed to a 401(k) or 403(b) at work to help increase your monthly income. Nevertheless, if theres no pension, a small or no 401(k), and no personal savings, you have no choice but to take your Social Security Benefits at age 62.

2) You are worried about your health. It's impossible to know how long you'll live. But there are factors in our lives that can be of concern. If you have a personal history of medical complications and taking all sorts of medicines, maybe you need to seriously think about retiring. Another factor to consider is your family medical history. Is your mother, father, aunt, uncle, brothers, sisters still living? Did they past away? I would sit down and see what medical ailments did they have and ask why did they die. Did they die at an early? Medage? Or did they live a long life? I would evaluate your family history and see if you're following that pattern. Health issues is a definite reason to possibly reire at age 62 instead of waiting.

3) You hate your job. I know many people who tells me this all of the time. It is really sad to hear it but I know what they mean. When I was working in corporate America, I didn't really hate my job but I wanted to get the heck out of there. And going somewhere else did not make things better either. When some one asks me this question, the best advice that I can give them is this: If you hate your job and it's so bad that it is making you sick, then it may be time to leave. It's not worth working yourself to death in such an environment that's literally killing you to get a paycheck. Take your Social Security benefits at 62 and run the heck out of there as fast as you can!

Before we end, let's look at an example and see how this works. If you claim benefits at age 62, you'll slash your monthly benefit by 30% if your FRA is 67. So, this means that if you're entitled to $1,500 a month from Social Security at 67, you'll get just $1,050 a month at age 62. For each month you file for benefits ahead of full retirement age (FRA), your monthly Social Security payout is reduced on a permanent basis.

In some cases, filing for benefits above the age of 62 is a smart move that makes a lot of sense for some people and they're probably better off waiting. But if you haven't saved much, have medical challenges, and can't stand your job any longer, it may be best to give up holding off for the larger benefit payments and take the smaller payments at age 62.