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FINANCIAL EXPERTS often advise retirees to delay claiming Social Security. Their actuarial tables and statistics make a compelling case. Still, as soon as I’m eligible, I’ll strongly consider claiming Social Security.
Why? I never knew either of my grandfathers. My mom’s dad died of a stroke when she was age 19. One of my favorite photos of my parents’ wedding is that of my uncle—my mom’s oldest brother—walking her down the aisle. My grandfather never got to see my parents wed.
My dad’s father died very young as well. Dad had no memory of his father. My dad Jorge passed away at 72. I was grateful he had 10 years of retirement, and was able to enjoy his grandchildren and have some years of leisure. He had earned it after almost 40 years at a retread factory.
One summer, I worked as a temp at the same factory. Despite the modern machines and far safer working conditions, it was hot and the work physically demanding. I was 25 years old and in good shape, but it was still tough. It made me appreciate the work my dad did to support our family all those years. Along with his pension, he was able to retire only by claiming Social Security benefits at age 62.
My father-in-law Mike was a kid from a working-class background. The only high school graduation gift he received was a Vietnam draft letter. After a tour of duty that exposed him to Agent Orange and constant military combat, he came home and started a small business as a plaster contractor. He made a living. He didn’t get rich. For more than 15 years, to earn extra money, he worked at the local bowling alley after a full day of backbreaking plaster work.
When I met my wife, he no longer had his second job, but continued hanging plaster ceilings and doing repair work fulltime until he claimed Social Security “early.” He continued to work part-time, doing small jobs until he paid off his mortgage and was able to retire fully. To say his work was hard on his body is an understatement. His knees, back, hands and neck all paid a price for the incredible workmanship he displayed with his craft.
I’ve had it easy compared to my dad and father-in-law. But I did work a swing shift for 20 years. One week, I’d work 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. I’d get the weekend off and go in Sunday night for my week of graveyard shifts, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. On Friday morning, I’d get off work at 7 a.m. and not have to return until Monday at 3 p.m., when I’d start my week of 3-11s.
I always slept fine when I was on the graveyard shift. But as I got older, it began to wear on me. Currently, I’m just working straight days. I didn’t expect working a straight day-shift schedule at the plant to be that different, but it’s been enlightening to see how much better I sleep and feel.
I understand the numbers and statistics that support claiming Social Security benefits later. But I can’t help but want to hedge my bets and claim my benefits at age 62. I’m 100% certain that, if I’m still working at the plant at that age, I won’t hesitate to retire and claim my benefits. That would go double if I was still working a swing shift.
Hooking up a railcar in subzero temperatures at 3 a.m. in January isn’t something I’ll be doing if I can supplement my retirement savings with Social Security. The numbers a financial advisor can show me in his temperature-controlled office won’t be enough to convince me to go to work on a wintry Iowa Sunday night for one more shift than is absolutely necessary.
Juan Fourneau’s goal is to retire at age 55. When he isn’t at his manufacturing job, he enjoys reading about personal finance and investing. Juan, who is married with two children, can still be seen in the ring on the independent professional wrestling circuit. He wrestles as a Mexican Luchador under the name Latin Thunder. Follow him on Twitter @LatinThunder1. Juan’s previous article was Taking on Tenants.
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Why I didn’t wait … entirely. First, it’s a very individual decision as to when to take Social Security. The pundits mostly fall on the side of wait till 70 unless you “really need” the income now. With comments like “it’s your insurance for when you’re old” and “take the 8% annuity that SS provides”. For me, I started taking at 66. My FRA was 66 and 2 months, but there is no magical boundary when you’re not working as far a reduction of benefits. I had planned to wait until my FRA and not 70 anyway but COVID nudged me into retirement in 2020. I spent a year or two prior to that running spreadsheets on the breakeven age of taking versus waiting using a number of scenarios. I will say it’s a difficult analysis with taxes, inflation, investment returns etc. I used 5% cost of money for my calculations not 2% that most online calculators use by default, because I intend to stay conservatively invested in the market. I came to the conclusion that if I waited till 70 instead of taking at my FRA I would catch up and start to get more at about 83 assuming I lived that long. For me that was likely as I am in good health. But life has no guarantees. I survived stomach cancer in 2015 and that definitely changed my outlook on waiting for things as I drift into my “golden” years.
One of my pet peeves with retirement calculators is that they assume you will be just as active at 85 as you want to be the day you retire. I would rather front load my retirement to do things while I have better health and vitality and I’ll scale back to sitting around playing cards when I lose my energy. By then a much larger portion of my expenses will be medical and not travel and such.
I was fortunate enough to have saved enough money that I could have squeaked by without SS but it would have been tight. In the end I decided that I would rather take and spend the 4 years of SS (that my heirs can’t keep if I die) than my nest egg. So time will tell whether I made a good decision or not but so far I got really lucky that during 2021 while we’ve lived mostly on SS my invested nest egg had huge returns. At least this year the gamble paid off.
Taking social security at 62 is the opposite of hedging your bet. Your bet is below average longevity, so a hedge would be planning for above average longevity. If that is your choice, then fine, but make no mistake; you are certainly not hedging your bet.
Personally, I would rather spend most of my savings on delaying social security for as long as possible, because there is no other source of truly inflation adjusted income (outside of government pensions, which I do not have). Even if it means I die at age 69, having never claimed a dime of social security, then that’s just fine with me, given the comfort and assurance of that unlimited future income.