For all of Social Security's solvency problems, Americans, who are notorious for claiming benefits early and therefore leaving lots of money on the table, are doing their part to sustain the program.

But the savvy and disciplined Americans who delay claiming till age 70 to maximize their benefits may also be undermining their retirement income.

Yes, you read that correctly. It is almost a cardinal rule among financial advisors that their clients (in good health) should delay claiming — even past full retirement age of 66 — to capture the 7 percent to 8 percent annual benefit increase that comes with each year's delay till age 70.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.