Social Security and the calculators of our lives

Every day, in every way, see advice about Social Security.  It must be the most frequently asked question of all time. The NY Times ran a Money column this past weekend – probably the thousandth time they’ve run the exact same piece of advice. Wait to take Social Security until you’re 70.  Pay a bit of attention to the nearly 400 comments that wrestle the writer down – pretty much saying to take it when you’re eligible. And that’s interesting when you look at the data the writer included, with a deep sigh, at the end: “Of the 1.4 million men and nearly 1.3 million women who began collecting benefits in 2012, about 1 percent of the men and nearly 2 percent of women were at least 70.” Considering that virtually no one heeds it, no wonder the advice is repeated, ad nauseum. In fact, five days earlier, the Wall Street Journal ran the same advice! And AARP ran the same advice on October 24.  Ditto for USA Today on October 13.   

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