Subject: Re: What's worse than lottery tickets?
The SSA is an insurance company. They have a pretty good idea of what the average age at death is and have set up the payments so that somewhere around age 80 is breakeven. If you live beyond age 80 then you clearly win in total payments by delaying the start. If you aren't sure you'll still be alive at 80, then starting the payments earlier makes sense. As our favorite philosopher once asked, "Do you feel lucky"?

Our conclusion was that the prudent path was for the husband to start taking it when they retire and the wife (on average longer-lived) to wait until 70 to start.

Saying there is only one right answer requires predicting the future, which as another great philosopher once said, is hard.

Rgds,
HH/Sean