Tag: Social Security trust fund
The brief’s key findings are: Monthly Social Security benefits claimed at age 62, rather than 65, are reduced about 20 percent to avoid additional costs to the program. When the reduction was set over 50 years ago, a worker claiming at 62 received benefits about 20 percent longer. As life expectancy has risen, this worker…
Abstract Households that delay claiming Social Security are, in effect, making additional purchases of the Social Security annuity. Theoretical calculations show the delayed claiming is optimal, even for high mortality households. Yet most claim well before the theoretically optimal age. This paper investigates whether subjective mortality beliefs contribute to the prevalence of early claiming. T…
