Americans spend decades watching Social Security taxes disappear from their paychecks. Then retirement arrives and conventional wisdom often tells them to do something peculiar: wait even longer to get their money back.
But maybe that is not the wisest choice.
CPA Brennan Schlagbaum recently made the case for claiming Social Security at 62, arguing that people obsess over the larger monthly benefit available at 70 while overlooking eight years of checks they surrendered to get it.
Everyone says you should wait until 70 to claim Social Security.
As a CPA, I’m taking mine at 62.
Here’s why:
— Brennan Schlagbaum, CPA (@Budgetdog_) October 1, 2026 [1]
Consider someone born in 1960 or later with a $3,000 monthly benefit at the full retirement age of 67. Under Social Security’s formula, claiming at 62 cuts that to roughly $2,100 a month. Waiting until 70 raises it to about $3,720. That means the 70-year-old receives 77% more each month than the 62- year-old.
Sounds fantastic – until you count the checks that never arrived in the meantime.
Collecting $2,100 monthly from 62 through 69 produces $201,600 over eight years before considering cost-of-living adjustments.
The person waiting until 70 starts out more than $200,000 behind. Using those simplified numbers, the extra $1,620 per month at age 70 takes about 10.4 years to recover that $201,600. In other words, the break-even point lands at roughly age 80-1/2.
So congratulations on the bigger check. Now comes the small matter of living long enough to win the bet.
There are other things to consider too. The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report projects the Old- Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will exhaust its reserves in the fourth quarter of 2032. That’s only six years away…and who is talking about it? Not the Republicans, not the Democrats. They don’t want to deal with it – especially in public where their comments are permanently etched into stone.
Meanwhile, all of the politicians are spending money like the spigot will never turn off – with the Dems trying to spend even more money on illegal aliens, a future with Medicare for All and much more. Can we do that AND keep the Social Security Ponzi scheme going? I doubt it. So who is to know what will happen in the future and how much your “promised” benefits will be cut and by how much?
Claiming Social Security at 62 isn’t automatically the best move for everyone. People who expect to live well into their 80s or beyond may ultimately collect more by waiting for a larger monthly benefit. Delaying also avoids the earnings-test reduction that can temporarily withhold benefits for people who claim before full retirement age and continue working above the annual limit. And for married couples,
waiting can have another important advantage: a higher benefit for the higher-earning spouse can mean a larger survivor benefit for the spouse who outlives them.
With so many things to consider, it’s wise to do your own math and figure out what is best for your own situation. But think about this: after spending a working lifetime paying into Social Security, there’s something to be said for getting your hands on the money while you’re still around to spend it.