Expert Retirement Planning

It's certainly important to consider your social security benefits in your retirement planning efforts. You need to consider how much social security you can expect to receive upon reaching retirement. This will, of course, be affected by the age at which you plan to start withdrawing social security benefits. You can elect to receive social security benefits at the age of 62, but the monthly amount you will receive will be significantly less than if you wait longer to utilize your benefits.

If you're planning to start drawing social security benefits when you turn 62, it's important that you realize that your benefits will be permanently reduced. For example, if you were born after 1959 and choose to receive social security starting on your 62nd birthday, your benefits will be permanently reduced by thirty percent per month.

This means that your monthly retirement income will be thirty percent less than it would have been if you had chosen to put off receiving benefits upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. The benefit reduction decreases as you get closer to 70, and at 70 you are eligible for full benefits. Of course, you'll receive benefits for a longer period of time if you elect to start receiving them earlier in life. Only you can decide which option is best for you, and it's very important that you fully understand the implications of your decision.

To avoid losing out on receiving the maximum monthly benefit, you'll need to hold off on drawing social security until you become 70 years old. Of course, you might not want to continue working full time until you are seventy years old. If you want to wait for maximum social security benefits, but want to stop working or go to a part time schedule at a younger age, be sure to take that into consideration when making retirement savings plans. It's important to make sure your other retirement savings accounts are sufficient to meet your needs for retirement income until you elect to start drawing your social security benefits.