The moment when a United States citizen decides to stop working and starts collecting a Social Security cheque is very important. From that moment on, the citizen must be able to rest to enjoy his golden years. Therefore, he must have a cheque large enough to cover all his expenses.
In any case, it is good to remember that retirees should not have Social Security cheques as their only source of income. Doing so is a mistake, since in most cases the cheque is smaller than the average American’s salary. However, it is very common for retirees to have no other source of disposable income.
For that reason, among other reasons, there is one very important detail to keep in mind. We must ask ourselves a key question before we start cashing a Social Security cheque. That key question is, can I really afford to apply for the retirement benefit cheque? In order to give a yes as an answer, we have to look at several details of our life.
Should we delay applying for the Social Security cheque?
In order to be able to answer yes to this question we have to look at several aspects of our life. These are the most important details to keep in mind:
- Not having debts. If we do not have debts, we can apply for Social Security retirement more comfortably. In the case of having debts, it is important to try to pay them all before receiving the first pension cheque.
- Have a lot of money saved. With savings everything is much easier. Having savings in our life we will be able to request the retirement of the Social Security with less fear, since the amount of the monthly cheque matters a little less.
- Have a good retirement age. Applying for retirement cheque at 62 years of age means losing 30% of the monthly cheque. Therefore, it is better to wait until age 70 to collect not only 100% of the cheque, but also a little more. In this way we can get up to the maximum $4,558 per month.
These three elements are key to having the best retirement possible. In short, if we can delay retirement a bit, it is best to do so in order to enter Social Security debt-free, with a bigger cheque and more savings in the bank account.