Over the weekend, my husband and I went out to dinner. It was a restaurant where the tables are a bit close to one another and it is hard not to hear others’ conversations. The man at the table next to me stated that at age 59 he was tired of working. He could not wait until he reached 62 so he could file for social security and hang it all up. I wanted to turn around and tell him he was about to make one of the biggest retirement mistakes he could make.
If he goes down this path and does take social security at age 62, he will take a permanent 25% cut in his social security. If he then finds that this is not enough to maintain his lifestyle and goes back to work, he will have more headaches. Since he is below the stated full retirement age for social security benefits, he will have to pay $1 tax for every $2 earned over $15,720.
I really hope this guy was just speaking out of frustration and does not resign himself and his family to a permanent 25% cut in retirement income.

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