I turn 62 next June (I am male) . I have 2 young children (started with the kid thing late in life) who will be 2 and 4 when I turn 62. The conventional wisdom is to wait until 70 to collect social security but, in my case, I believe I double my benefits until my children are 18. So, in my case, I would be getting the child benefits for at least 14 years. Wouldn't it make sense to take benefits as early as possible? Thank you.

Hi,

It's certainly something to consider, and only you can decide what's best for you and your family. If you start drawing benefits at age 62, your monthly benefit amount will be about 25% less than your full rate, and roughly 76% less than what you'd get if you wait until age 70 to file instead. Furthermore, most of this reduction will continue to apply to the potential widow's rate payable to your wife.

Another possible complication is the Social Security earnings test (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html), which could limit your and your children's ability to draw benefits before you reach full retirement age.

As you point out, though, your children can't receive benefits until you do, and you may consider the permanently lower monthly benefits for you and potentially your widow to be a good trade off. You may want to consider running the maximization software available on this website in order to get a clearer idea of the impact that your filing choices will have on your long term financial situation.

Best, Jerry