Anonymous wrote:You want your wife to have as much as possible/month after you are gone.

Anonymous wrote:The wife still has to reach retirement age to take the spousal benefit if OP is alive.

Anonymous wrote:when he dies ... SS payment/month ... needs to be as big as possible [unless] he takes early and invests it, and can do better than 8% guaranteed return.I would play the SSi card the safe way and claim at 70.

Yikes, this is a clusterfunk of bad info. Spouses get benefits if they care for children under 16. The golddigger widow get 75% of the primary benefit plus continuing child benefits. She should poison his tea.

OP posted math to show a 4-6% return pays more than the extra $1,000/month and leaves $275k extra when he dies. You don't need 8%!

You can even take Social Security Family Benefits at age 62 if you are not working. If you are working then they reduce your benefits and tax away most of your income.

If you're taking 7K/month for 3 years, you aren't going to be investing 250K. You'll be investing 250K minus taxes, and if you're on Medicare, potentially increased rates due to IRMAA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not entirely sure what your point is, OP, but if you have a younger wife and young kids (especially if DW is a SAHM) then I would wait and take the max at 70, giving no thought to break even. You want your wife to have as much as possible/month after you are gone.

The wife still has to reach retirement age to take the spousal benefit if OP is alive. It’s different if OP dies.

My point was when he dies and remaining (younger) spouse goes down (or only ever gets access) to 1 SS payment/month, it needs to be as big as possible. If he takes early and invests it, and can do better than 8% guaranteed return, AND they don't spend any of that money so it can be invested, then sure, he could do better taking it early. But if he doesn't have significant retirement funds then I would play the SSi card the safe way and claim at 70.