You can start getting Social Security retirement benefits when you turn 62 years old, the earliest age when they're available. However, there are downsides to starting benefits at such a young age. Because this is well below your full retirement age, you'll see your benefits reduced by as much as 30%, compared to your standard benefit.
Taking a 30% hit to one of your most important sources of retirement income may seem like something you should avoid at all costs. However, there are some situations where an early claim makes the most financial sense. Here's the single best reason to start your benefits at 62 instead of waiting.
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Starting your benefits early could preserve your savings
There's one situation when claiming Social Security at 62 makes a lot of sense. You'll want to claim at this age if doing so enables you to preserve your savings.
Many people want or need to retire at 62 or even before that. You might need to retire when you hit this age if you have family issues, like a need to care for an aging spouse or a desire to care for young grandchildren. Or you might have health issues or simply be tired of working and want to stop.
If you no longer have paychecks coming in, you'd need money from somewhere. You'd likely have two primary choices: Social Security and savings. Unfortunately, if you try to rely on savings without any help from Social Security, this could be a problem if doing so causes your account balance to fall too quickly.
If that's happening to you, an early Social Security claim is a far better choice than draining your savings account dry.
Don't take money out too fast just to delay Social Security
When it comes to making your savings last in retirement, the key is not to take too much money out too fast. If you do that, you may find yourself in a situation where you don't have enough invested to keep earning returns, and your money may run out quickly.
Most experts recommend withdrawing no more than 4% of your account balance in your first year of retirement, and some evidence suggests you need to be even more conservative if you want to ensure that your money will last. People are living longer lives and the projections for future interest rates are declining.
If you need to take out more than 4% of your retirement account balance in order to fund your lifestyle while delaying Social Security, you're putting yourself at risk of big financial trouble later. Even if you increase your future Social Security benefits by avoiding early filing penalties, benefits alone generally aren't enough to live on without supplementary savings.
If you're worried that you can't live on your savings alone without help from Social Security, and finding other income sources isn't an option, you should claim at 62. This situation is the single best reason to take Social Security at such a young age since, in this case, an early claim can help you protect one of your two most crucial income sources as a retiree.
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