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Retirement planning: Six myths, busted

Retirement planning can be complicated – the wants and needs that need to be accommodated in our retirement years vary from person to person, so it's hard to get sound advice. Still, there are certain myths about retirement that persist. Here are six of the most common, along with helpful tips and tools for taking some of the guesswork out of retirement planning. 

2. Myth: To get the most from Social Security, collect as early as possible

Pstrick Semansky/AP/File
The Social Security Administration's main campus is in Woodlawn, Md.

Americans can begin withdrawing Social Security checks at any time between age 62 and age 70. Age 62, or the first year of eligibility, is the most popular time to begin collecting: about 32 percent of men and 38 percent of women begin collecting benefits within a month of turning 62. And for many, it’s a sensible choice: some are out of the workforce or work in physically demanding, high-risk jobs.

But if you can afford to wait, you should. If you were born between 1946 and 1954, for example, claiming at 62 means a 25 percent smaller check than claiming at 66; claiming at 67, on the other hand, means 108 percent of your full benefit.

Beyond that basic rule, there are a variety of strategies to maximize your benefits. Mary Beth Franklin, a columnist with Kiplinger’s and InvestmentNews, has spent years sniffing out hidden Social Security check boosters and loopholes. One is the “file and suspend” strategy, which allows couples at full retirement age to boost their spousal benefits by filing for one spouse  and delaying actually collecting until age 70, which still triggers the spousal benefits for your spouse.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

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If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

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The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

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