Dave Ramsey is full of financial advice, and much of it follows a recognizable pattern: save money, avoid debt, invest consistently. When it comes to Social Security, though, Ramsey takes a position that surprises many people, and one that is genuinely difficult for most Americans to act on.
How Ramsey suggests Americans manage their Social Security benefits
Recipients have real flexibility in when they file for Social Security. The earliest possible age is 62, but claiming then triggers a permanent reduction in monthly payments. Anyone who wants their full benefit with no reduction must wait until full retirement age (FRA), which is 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later. Patience pays even further beyond FRA: each additional year of waiting increases benefits by 8%, up through age 70.
Given Ramsey’s usual emphasis on discipline and long-term thinking, most people would expect him to push for maximum delay. Instead, he argues for claiming at the earliest possible age of 62. His reasoning has two parts. First, he points out that Social Security only pays as long as you are alive, so filing early locks in more monthly checks over a lifetime. Second, and more controversially, he urges claimants to take benefits at 62 and invest the money, letting it compound into a larger sum. On his show, Ramsey has described Social Security as “a mathematical disaster” he wants out of as fast as possible, and has said that “it usually makes sense to take it earlier and invest it.”
Why Ramsey’s advice is so hard to follow
The early-claiming part of Ramsey’s advice is not inherently wrong for every person. But the share of Americans actually filing at 62 has been declining for decades. The percentage of new beneficiaries claiming at 62 dropped from a peak of more than 60% in the 1990s to roughly 26% in 2024, the lowest level in at least 40 years. By 2024, age 66 had become the single most popular filing age, with 27% of men and 25.3% of women signing up at that point. The financial stakes of that choice are substantial: the average monthly Social Security benefit paid to retired workers in December 2024 was $1,342 at age 62, rising to $1,930 at age 67 and $2,148 at age 70. By 2026, the overall average monthly benefit for retired workers reached about $2,071, reflecting the 2.8% COLA applied that January.
The bigger problem is the investing component. A 2024 Census Bureau report found that 42% of older Americans depend on Social Security benefits for half or more of their income, and 14% rely on them for 90% or more. For those households, investing Social Security checks is not a realistic option; the money is spoken for before it arrives. The median retirement savings for Americans aged 55 to 64 sits at just $185,000 according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, far below the threshold most financial planners consider adequate.
Beyond the savings gap, many Americans simply have no investing experience. Even when a monthly check is not urgently needed for living expenses, expecting the typical retiree to deploy it into markets month after month is a stretch. A 2022 National Bureau of Economic Research study concluded that more than 90% of workers aged 45 to 62 would maximize their lifetime Social Security income by claiming at age 70, and fewer than 1% would optimize by claiming before age 66. The gap between what is mathematically optimal and what people actually do remains vast.
There is also the Social Security Earnings Test for those who plan to keep working while collecting early benefits. In 2026, for beneficiaries younger than FRA throughout the year, the annual earnings limit is $24,480, and $1 in benefits is withheld for every $2 earned above that threshold. That clawback can seriously undercut the math behind Ramsey’s strategy for part-time workers. The withheld benefits are not permanently lost: the SSA recalculates and increases monthly payments after FRA to credit the months when benefits were held back. Even so, managing that cash-flow gap in the years before FRA is a real challenge.
Fresh urgency surrounds the debate. Claims surged in 2025, rising about 11% from the prior year as some Americans filed amid uncertainty about the program’s future and staffing changes at the SSA. An Urban Institute analysis found that higher-income individuals, those best positioned to delay, were filing at 62 in unusually high numbers. That dynamic undercuts Ramsey’s assumption that early claiming is primarily a tool for people who truly need the income.
Compounding the pressure, the 2026 SSA Trustees Report, released June 9, 2026, projects that the OASI trust fund will deplete its reserves in the fourth quarter of 2032, one quarter earlier than the prior year’s estimate. At that point, only 78% of scheduled benefits would be payable from ongoing payroll tax revenue. If the OASI and disability trust funds are considered together, the combined depletion date remains 2034, with 83% of benefits payable. Without legislative action, current retirees who claimed early could face an automatic 22% benefit cut at exactly the age when they are least able to absorb a financial shock.
Ramsey likely understands that the typical American depends on Social Security for income and is not positioned to invest it. Advising people to delay claims for larger monthly payments would seem more consistent with his usual emphasis on financial security. What may be pulling him toward early claiming is longevity risk. Many Americans carry chronic health conditions, and Ramsey may view claiming at 62 as the safer bet for people whose life expectancy is genuinely uncertain.
From a purely mathematical standpoint, delaying benefits past FRA yields a guaranteed, inflation-protected return of roughly 8% per year, setting a very high benchmark for any conservative investment portfolio to beat. A retiree who delays until 67 must live past roughly age 77 to 78 to collect more in total lifetime benefits than someone who filed at 62. Delaying until 70 shifts that break-even point to around age 80 to 82. Remaining life expectancy at age 65 is now about 20.6 years, which means the average 65-year-old would reach that break-even comfortably. Those who claimed at 62 will see all future COLA increases compound off a permanently lower baseline, widening the income gap with every passing year.
Should you follow Ramsey’s Social Security advice?
Ramsey’s approach may fit a narrow group of people, but it requires an honest self-assessment first. If Social Security is your primary retirement income and your savings are modest, claiming early locks in a permanently reduced monthly payment. Over the last decade the average annual COLA has been about 3.1%, which means a smaller baseline benefit compounds at that rate for life, falling further behind what a delayed claim would have produced with each adjustment.
Affluent retirees who genuinely have the flexibility to invest early checks should consider a structured alternative: drawing down tax-advantaged retirement accounts during the early retirement years to bridge income while delaying Social Security, then locking in a higher guaranteed benefit for life. That approach converts a depleting asset into a permanently larger inflation-indexed income stream.
For anyone who has never invested before, it is unrealistic to assume that will change simply because Ramsey recommends it. Claiming at FRA or later is likely the more practical path for that group. Just 19% of currently retired Americans say they are not reliant on Social Security, which puts the stakes of this decision in sharp relief.
The one scenario where Ramsey’s early-claiming logic holds up clearly is a genuine health impairment that makes a long life unlikely. The looming trust fund pressure adds a new wrinkle: some argue that locking in any benefit before potential cuts arrive is prudent, while financial experts caution that claiming decisions should be driven by your personal situation rather than program solvency fears. For everyone else, the decision deserves careful analysis of break-even ages, current savings, expected expenses, and investment experience before rushing to file at 62.
Editor’s note: This update incorporates findings from the June 2026 SSA Trustees Report, which moved the OASI trust fund depletion date to late 2032 with 78% of benefits payable at that point, down from the 2033 estimate in the prior year’s report. It also adds the current 2026 average monthly retirement benefit of approximately $2,071, Ramsey’s on-air characterization of Social Security, and updated life-expectancy context showing that the average 65-year-old now lives well past the break-even age for delaying claims.
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