My Neighbor Claimed Social Security at 70 - (Was It WorthIt?)

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:01]Eight years.

[00:00:05]That's how long my neighbor Harold waited before he collected a single dollar from Social Security.

[00:00:12]He worked 38 years as electrician.

[00:00:16]While most people his age were cashing their first checks at 62, Harold kept working.

[00:00:23]While others were filing at 66, 67, 68, Harold still waited all the way to age 70 years old.

[00:00:32]Now, I'll be honest with you.

[00:00:35]When Harold told me his plan, I thought he was making a mistake.

[00:00:39]I figured, you've paid into the system your whole life.

[00:00:44]Why leave money on the table?

[00:00:46]At his kitchen table last spring, Harold told me exactly what his Social Security check looks like today.

[00:00:54]And I got real quiet.

[00:00:59]Because the number he gave me forced me to completely rethink everything I thought I knew about when to claim Social Security.

[00:01:09]So, today I'm going to walk you through Harold's decision, the real math behind it, the factors he considered that most people completely ignore, and the honest answer to the question, if you're healthy enough to wait, should you?

[00:01:28]Stick with me.

[00:01:30]Because by the end of this video, you'll know exactly whether waiting to 70 is the smartest move you can make or one of the most expensive mistakes of your retirement.

[00:01:42]Let's head on over to the whiteboard.

[00:01:46]Okay. Now, we're going to talk about why people wait, why people should wait. The 8% promise is probably one of the biggest reasons why people wait until age 70.

[00:01:59]Now, for every year you wait past full retirement age, your benefit grows 8% per year, guaranteed by the government. All right, so let's look at an example how this works.

[00:02:18]Okay, here's an example.

[00:02:20]Now, let's say this person here at 62, 67, and 70.

[00:02:29]If you took your benefits at 62, you'll get $1,400 per month.

[00:02:37]If you wait to age 67, it's $2,000 per month.

[00:02:42]So, some people take it early at 1,400 a month, some wait to full retirement age, which is that.

[00:02:50]That's full retirement age.

[00:02:53]67, or some people wait until age 70.

[00:02:56]And if you wait then, it's $2,480.

[00:03:00]And all this uh per month. $1,400 here per month, $2,000 a month here for retirement age, and $2,480 per month at age 70.

[00:03:13]Now, the point is between this and that, each year grows 8% so that's 3 years, right? So, you take 8% * 3, that's a 24% rise in your monthly benefit.

[00:03:31]So, that's how we come up with 24, but eight each year 8% it increase. That's a guaranteed. That has nothing to do with the stock market. It has nothing to do with any type of risk. It's guaranteed by the government. That is powerful. So, if you are if you can wait, that's great. Some people can't wait.

[00:03:49]But if you can, some people, a few do, They wait until age 70 to take it. But the kicker in all this is if you have to wait 8 years to actually get this, right?

[00:04:01]Cuz if you if you're 62 years old right now, that's 8 years.

[00:04:07]That's 8 years you will have to wait to get that.

[00:04:11]That's the big kicker. No one talks about that. But that's 8 years of checks that you're not receiving.

[00:04:18]So, there are some elements we have to look at a little deeper to see if that makes sense or not.

[00:04:25]Now, let's work on Harold's specific numbers.

[00:04:28]Remember at 67, he would get $2,000 a month.

[00:04:36]All right, if he wait until age 70, he would get $2,480.

[00:04:43]All right, so if we calculate the 3 years here, let's get out our handy calculator, ready?

[00:04:50]So, I have my calculator out. All right, pull out your calculators.

[00:04:54]Let's calculate this out, right? And this is how much money he would be somewhat losing if he if he waited to age 70. If you take 2,000 times 12 times 3.

[00:05:11]Right? So, if we take $2,000 per month times 12, that's 24,000.

[00:05:22]And then we multiply that by 3. That's the 3 years in between.

[00:05:27]Um and that's times 3.

[00:05:31]That's $72,000 that we have to make up because he's waiting to age 70.

[00:05:38]So, for an example, if I if I retired at 67, I'm getting $2,000 a month.

[00:05:42]I'm not waiting to age 70, I'm taking it now.

[00:05:45]But Harold have he will lose this amount because he wants to get a certain amount and hopefully if he live longer, it may benefit him, but that's what we looking for the break even age to see whether it was a good idea, whether he needed to wait to 70, or he should have taken it earlier.

[00:06:02]Let's continue.

[00:06:05]Okay, so the big number here is between 2,000 and 22480.

[00:06:09]That difference is 480.

[00:06:11]So, if he waits until if he waits until 870, that difference is $480 per month.

[00:06:19]Okay? That's how much extra he will get each month. But again, we trying to find out >> [clears throat] >> the break even age, at what age would make sense for him to wait. Okay, so we going to do a little bit more calculations. You going to get a little nerdy here, okay? But just try to follow me.

[00:06:44]Just remember that number, $480.

[00:06:51]That's the difference between age 67 and 70.

[00:06:55]All right. So, what we trying to trying to find out here What we trying to find out here is the $480.

[00:07:03]How how old he's going to be to make to to have this make sense. So, we going to get a little nerdy here. Remember the 72,000? We going to take $72,000. This is the amount he will lose um if you wait to age 70.

[00:07:17]Uh we divide that by 12, all right, for each year.

[00:07:21]So, he he had made the $72,000. You divide it by 12, that equals $6,000 per year.

[00:07:29]And we divide that number by 480 dollars per month. And that will determine how many years it we it it will determine how many years it would take him break even. So, if we take $6,000 divided by 480, that's the monthly benefit we're going to be getting extra, it will take him 12.5 years to break even. That's his break-even number.

[00:08:00]All right, so if you look at it, he's what? 70 years old? 12.5?

[00:08:05]He would have to reach what? 82 and 1/2?

[00:08:09]82 and 1/2 years to break even.

[00:08:12]All right, cuz we're just going to add 70 to that. 70 years.

[00:08:17]So, it's 82 and 1/2 years to break even.

[00:08:21]Now, if he passed away sooner than that, sooner than 82, say at 79 or or 80, um he would have been better off taking it at at 67.

[00:08:33]But, anything past 82 and 1/2 years, uh he would be better off. But, no one knows. No one knows how to maximize.

[00:08:40]Now, in America, for men, the average age of a man in America lives to about 76 years old.

[00:08:52]For [clears throat] women, the average age is 81 years old.

[00:09:03]Okay, that's just the average.

[00:09:05]And if you can see here what happens, a lot of people saying, "Hey, if my average year 76, it more than likely won't make sense to wait until 82 and 1/2 or older.

[00:09:16]Or but if I took it sooner, maybe be better. So, maybe that's probably why people take it earlier.

[00:09:23]But, there are reasons to wait.

[00:09:25]But, again, this is kind of give you this is a a snapshot of what the average age is here in America. For men, it's 76.

[00:09:34]If you if you go older older than that, but at 70 years old, if you can live past that 82 and 1/2, then you come out better waiting.

[00:09:44]But showing this, the odds of you reaching that age is not good. That's the average.

[00:09:50]So that's why most people take their money sooner than wait till later.

[00:09:56]Okay, so Harold was kind of betting that he's going to live longer than the 70 or the 76 average we spoke about here.

[00:10:05]His father had lived His father lived at 91.

[00:10:18]Uh his mother His mother lived until age 84.

[00:10:27]Okay, so he was kind of betting himself that he may live longer as well. So let's say that he he lived until 90 years old.

[00:10:37]All right, if he stayed at 90 years old, um he would have made an additional accumulation about $43,000 total within that period. $43,000 more than if he came out at 67.

[00:11:00]If you look at the cola, the cost of living adjustment, and compound, this is more than kind of doubled. So really in essence, he really would have been up about $86,000 if he lives to age 90.

[00:11:14]Okay, which makes sense. I don't know how healthy he will be, but he will have more money. But again, he he's going by his the longevity of his family, thinking that 70 is too young. So he was putting a bet on, "Hey, I'm going to wait till age 70, and wait."

[00:11:29]So again, that was his decision. And as we sat down I thought about it and I was like, "Oh my goodness."

[00:11:36]Uh that's kind of touchy situation, but it's personal. So, he thought that was a better idea and also with the extra $480 per month he said that was going to take care of his Medicare every month.

[00:11:52]And his uh prescription cost.

[00:11:59]Okay, so he thought that would be a good thing as well. Again, it's a personal decision.

[00:12:04]And uh again, he thought that his longevity would be better. So, that's why he decided [clears throat] to wait until age 70.

[00:12:11]So, I sat down with Harold and asked him directly, "Did you run these numbers?

[00:12:16]Did you know about break-even age?" He said he did know about the math.

[00:12:21]His father had lived to age 91 and his mother lived to age 88.

[00:12:26]He was in pretty good shape.

[00:12:28]Still working part-time.

[00:12:30]And he said, "I didn't want to take a smaller check for the rest of my life just because I was impatient at 67."

[00:12:39]Harold also mentioned something that stopped me cold.

[00:12:43]He said, "The extra $480 a month covers my Medicare premium and my prescription costs entirely.

[00:12:52]That's peace of mind I couldn't put a price on.

[00:12:55]That's when I realized this decision isn't just math, it's deeply personal.

[00:13:01]There are five factors that determines your answer.

[00:13:05]Factor number one, your health and family history.

[00:13:10]If you're in poor health or have a family history of shorter lifespans, claiming earlier often makes more financial sense.

[00:13:18]If you're healthy and your parents live into their late 80s or in their 90s, waiting gains real power.

[00:13:26]Factor number two, whether you're working. If you claim before full retirement age and still earn income, the Social Security Administration can reduce your benefits.

[00:13:37]If you're working comfortably between the ages of 67 and 70, waiting costs you nothing in lifestyle.

[00:13:45]Factor number three, spousal benefits.

[00:13:48]The higher earner waiting to age 70 can dramatically increase the surviving spouse's benefits for life. This is one of the most overlooked reasons couples should consider waiting.

[00:14:02]Factor number four, whether you have other income sources.

[00:14:07]A pension, a 401k, or 403b, or rental income means you can afford to wait.

[00:14:13]If Social Security is your only income source at 67, waiting may not be a realistic regardless of the math.

[00:14:22]Factor number five, your psychological relationship with money.

[00:14:26]Some people genuinely sleep better knowing they took their benefit when they could.

[00:14:32]That peace of mind has real value. Don't dismiss it.

[00:14:38]So, getting back to Harold, was it worth it for Harold?

[00:14:41]Financially, we won't know for certain until we see how long he lives.

[00:14:46]But at 73, right now, he's on track.

[00:14:50]He needs to hit age 83 to break even, and given his family history, I'll put money on it.

[00:14:58]But here's what I want you to take away.

[00:15:01]Harold made the right decision for Harold.

[00:15:04]Not because he followed the rule, because he understood his health, his finances, and what mattered to him.

[00:15:12]The question isn't what Harold did. The question is, what are the right factors for you?

[00:15:18]And I'm going to give you one quick way to figure that out in the next 60 seconds. Ready?

[00:15:26]All right, ask yourself these questions.

[00:15:29]Question number one, do I expect to live past 83?

[00:15:33]Number two, do I have income to live on between ages 67 and 70 without Social Security?

[00:15:41]Number three, am I the higher earner in my marriage?

[00:15:46]If you answered yes to all three questions, waiting until age 70 probably makes sense for you.

[00:15:54]Now, and if you're wondering about the other side of this debate, I did a whole video on my uncle who claimed benefits at age 62.

[00:16:03]Everyone said he was wrong.

[00:16:05]But in reality, it's more complicated than you think.

[00:16:09]I'll link that video in the description.

[00:16:14]If this video helped you think through your own decision, please consider subscribing.

[00:16:20]I'll put out a new video every week on exactly these kinds of questions.

[00:16:24]And drop a comment.

[00:16:26]What age are you planning to claim?

[00:16:29]I read every single one.

[00:16:31]I'll see you in the next video.