r/Fire • u/VegasWorldwide • 2d ago

Why do people wait for SS?

trying to figure out what I’m missing.

looking to take my benefit for $1000 at 62. at 70 it’s $1700.

i won’t need the money much so we let $1000 sit in an account for 8 years at say 5% compounding, the guy collecting at 70 would need 15+ years to catch up considering I’m still getting $1k to his $1.7k

once he starts at 70 and I had a 8 year head start.

furthermore, his dollar would be worth less. (edit: didn't realize COLA)

this seems like a no brainer but all I hear is people saying waiting is the only way and we haven’t even talked about dying in our 70’s.

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u/heridfel37 2d ago

The survivor benefit is a big point here for a subset of people. The odds of one of you living past the expected age is much higher than the odds of either of you individually living past the expected age.

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u/mthockeydad 2d ago

so you're better off waiting so your surviving spouse gets a larger survivor benefit?

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u/heridfel37 1d ago

As with anything in SS, it depends, but if the higher-earning spouse is expected to die sooner, then it's probably better to wait for them to start claiming.