Older Americans are routinely advised to hold off on Social Security for as long as possible. Benefits can start as early as 62, but waiting until 70 locks in the largest monthly check available, and that check arrives for life. For retirees who have little else saved, squeezing every dollar from Social Security is not just smart planning. It can be the difference between financial stability and real hardship.
So it comes as a surprise to many people that financial commentator Dave Ramsey actively disagrees with the wait-until-70 strategy. His position: claim at 62, the earliest age allowed, and put those checks to work immediately. Here is the reasoning behind that view, and why it does not apply equally to everyone.
Longevity is a gamble Ramsey is unwilling to take
Ramsey’s core objection to waiting until 70 is rooted in mortality risk. As he has stated on his podcast, Social Security benefits stop the day you die. Filing at 70 only pays off if you live long enough to recoup the eight years of checks you never collected. Since no one can guarantee that outcome, Ramsey argues the prudent move is to start collecting immediately.
The break-even math is real and worth understanding. Based on current benefit structures, a retiree who claims at 62 versus 70 does not reach the crossover point, where cumulative lifetime benefits from the later claim exceed those from the earlier one, until around age 80 to 81. For someone who dies before that age, early claiming wins on a pure dollar basis. For someone who lives well into their 80s or 90s, waiting pays off substantially. According to SSA actuarial data used in the 2026 Trustees Report, average life expectancy for a 65-year-old today is approximately 82.5 years for men and 85 years for women, meaning the statistical odds actually favor delaying for most retirees.
The opportunity cost argument, and its limits
Ramsey’s second argument centers on what economists call opportunity cost. By claiming at 62 and immediately investing every check into diversified mutual funds or index funds, he believes a retiree can build more wealth than the guaranteed benefit increase from waiting would produce. Delaying from full retirement age (currently 67 for most workers) to age 70 boosts the monthly benefit by roughly 8% for each year of delay, a guaranteed government-backed return. Ramsey’s theory is that an equity portfolio can beat that return over time, though market results are never guaranteed.
There is a practical obstacle buried in this strategy that Ramsey does not always address. The Social Security earnings test applies to anyone who claims before reaching full retirement age and continues to work. In 2026, for every $2 earned above $24,480, Social Security withholds $1 in benefits. That means a retiree who wants to invest rather than spend an early benefit check generally needs to be fully out of the workforce at 62 and have enough in savings to cover living expenses without touching those Social Security payments. That is a financial position most 62-year-olds do not occupy.
What Ramsey’s advice often overlooks
For married couples, early filing by the higher-earning spouse carries an additional hidden cost. A surviving spouse is entitled to step into the larger of the two individual benefits after a partner dies. When the higher earner files at 62 and locks in a permanently reduced benefit, that smaller number becomes the ceiling for the survivor’s benefit as well. Waiting longer to claim preserves a larger survivor benefit, which can matter enormously if one spouse outlives the other by a decade or more.
There is also the broader question of Social Security’s fiscal future. The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report, released in June 2026, projects that the OASI trust fund will be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032, one quarter earlier than the prior year’s estimate. The trustees partly attributed the accelerated timeline to provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill, which reduced income tax revenue flowing into the program. If Congress does not act by 2032, ongoing payroll tax revenue would cover only 78% of scheduled retirement benefits, translating to an average benefit cut of roughly $500 per month. For those who delay to 70 to build the largest possible base benefit, even a 22% reduction would leave them collecting more in absolute dollars than an early claimer receiving the same percentage cut on a smaller base amount.
When Ramsey’s advice fits, and when it does not
Taken together, Ramsey’s case for claiming at 62 works best for a specific type of retiree: someone in poor health or with a family history of shorter lifespans, someone who has enough savings and discipline to invest every check, and someone who is fully retired with no earned income that would trigger the earnings test. For that person, early claiming and disciplined investing can make solid financial sense.
For a retiree approaching 62 with little or no personal savings, the calculus flips. Claiming at 62 under those conditions typically means spending the money out of necessity rather than investing it. Staying in the workforce until 70 and filing then, while leaving retirement accounts untouched to keep compounding, could result in meaningfully more total income over a long retirement. According to AARP, Social Security currently provides the majority of income for 43% of seniors, covering more than 25 million families, which makes the size of the monthly check a serious long-term variable. The average retirement benefit in 2026 is approximately $2,071 per month, a figure that underscores just how much the claiming age matters over a 20- or 30-year retirement.
The right filing age is personal. Health history, marital status, savings balances, expected longevity, and tolerance for market risk all matter. Rather than anchoring to any single expert’s rule, running the break-even numbers for your own benefit amounts and consulting a fiduciary financial advisor who can model your full retirement income picture is a worthwhile step before making a decision that cannot be undone.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect SSA actuarial data from the 2026 Trustees Report showing life expectancy at 65 at approximately 82.5 years for men and 85 years for women, to add that the 2026 Trustees Report partly attributed the accelerated OASI depletion timeline to the One Big Beautiful Bill’s tax provisions, and to include the average 2026 Social Security retirement benefit of $2,071 per month and the estimated $500 average monthly benefit cut that would result from trust fund depletion without congressional action.
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