So what is the latest on the one spouse taking early/one delaying strategy?

There was a weird trick that ended in 2015 and doesn't need to be discussed here. What is still true is to have one spouse take SS early(ish) and the other wait until age 70. Because of survivorship benefit the decision should be based on who has more contributions rather than expected age at death. Your SS benefit will be more than hers, so delaying yours makes sense. When it makes sense to start taking your wife's benefit just depends on whether it makes a difference in your budget.

As to whether you can do better than a "guaranteed 8%", I'm not sure we would agree on the definition of guaranteed. Berkshire has returned something over 10%/year for quite a long time now. Is it guaranteed? No. Is it as safe as the guaranty provided by the SSA? I'm comfortable that the levels of risk are similar and the Berkshire will continue to return more than 8%/year.

YMMV.

Rgds,
HH/Sean

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