If you’ve been to any of my Maximizing Social Security courses, you probably understand that I think that delaying Social Security at least for one spouse makes a lot of sense.
Ideally if a spouse can delay their own Social Security until age 70, it will provide maximum payments for them and the subsequent surviving spouse and put less pressure on the investment portfolio to deliver results year in and year out.
In the subsequent conversations that I have with others, I often hear them say that they like the idea of delaying but they couldn’t imagine working until the age of 70. This leads me to believe that they may have misunderstood what I said. The recommendation is to delay activating the Social Security until a later age, not to continue working until a later age which would be, of course, voluntary.
Keep in mind that there is no law that requires you to activate your Social Security the month after you stop working. In many cases a robust Social Security planning strategy may suggest delaying the activation for a certain number of months or years following the end of the work. But keep in mind that that doesn’t necessitate working until the activation of Social Security later on.
What we do need to get a handle on in these circumstances is that we do need an alternative source of income during the delay phase. This could be part-time income, but not necessarily so. Many investors have enough assets saved to provide for this bridge. Others are in the position to activate a short-term reverse mortgage for the short period of years needed. There are multiple options, but don’t choose to not delay taking your Social Security because you’ve decided it’s time to stop working.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me
