taking SS
Hello Terry, listen to wgn all day at work, try never to miss your on air time, always great advice. I am 67 and what I need a simple yes or no answer. If I start taking my payout now will that be the max amount i will receive for life, except for cost of living increases, instead of waiting to age 70, and does the 7 to 8% adjustment still apply until I am 70? Or does that increase stop as soon as I start drawing payments.
Terry Says
Your base payment is fixed for life when you start taking payments. But you MUST start payments by age 70 under current rules. If you can afford to wait, the higher base payment is important because that is the level upon which future inflation COLAs will be based. So, if it’s a choice of living on savings for a couple of years (money in the bank, earning less than 1% currently) or taking SS now, I’d take some money out to live on — and try to keep earning a bit — and postpone SS at least till full retirement age, and maybe longer.
