Scenario 2: When Waiting Until 70 Makes the Most Sense

For many retirees in good health with adequate savings, waiting until 70 is the single highest-return, lowest-risk financial move available to them. Here’s why:

You’re in good health and have longevity in your family

If you’re healthy at 62 and your parents or grandparents lived into their mid-to-late 80s, the odds are meaningful that you’ll live past the breakeven age. Every year past that point, the decision to delay pays off more.

You want a guaranteed inflation-adjusted income floor

Social Security’s annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) means your benefit grows with inflation every year—permanently. A larger base benefit means larger COLA increases in absolute terms. For a 30-year retirement, this compounding effect is significant.

You’re the higher earner in a married couple

This is one of the most important—and most overlooked—reasons to delay. When you die, your spouse inherits the higher of your two Social Security benefits. If you’re the higher earner and you delay until 70, you’re not just maximizing your own income. You’re setting the floor for your surviving spouse’s income for the rest of their life.

The Spousal Survivor Strategy: A married couple where the higher earner claims at 70 and the lower earner claims at 62 is one of the most financially sound claiming strategies available. It maximizes the survivor benefit while providing some early income. If the higher earner dies first, the surviving spouse steps up to the larger benefit—potentially for decades.