5 Smart Reasons to Take Social Security at Age 70

For many people, Social Security feels like one of the biggest retirement decisions they’ll ever make. And that’s because it is. The age you choose to claim benefits can affect your income, taxes, investment withdrawals, surviving spouse, and overall retirement confidence for the next 20 or 30 years.

The frustrating part is that most people hear completely opposite opinions. One person says, “Take Social Security as soon as you can because you never know how long you’ll live.” Another says, “Wait until 70 because you’ll get the biggest check.” The truth is, neither answer is automatically right. The better question is: What does your actual retirement plan need Social Security to do?

After helping hundreds of retirees over the past 22+ years, I have found that choosing when to claim Social Security boils down to picking and committing to a set of assumptions that you are comfortable with and testing the potential outcomes side by side with multiple other claiming ages. This will allow you to clearly see the pros and cons and provide more clarity and confidence around this decision.

However, in this article, we’ll look at five smart reasons someone may choose to delay Social Security until age 70. This isn’t about convincing you to wait. It’s about helping you understand when waiting may make sense, what trade-offs are involved, and why this decision should be tested before you make it.

Key Point / Summary

Taking Social Security at age 70 can be a smart strategy when the goal is to create more guaranteed income later in retirement, protect a surviving spouse, reduce pressure on investments, and improve long-term retirement stability.

Short on time? Here are the five smart reasons we’ll cover:

You want the largest monthly Social Security benefit available.
You expect to live a long retirement.
You want to protect your spouse with a larger survivor benefit.
You want more predictable income later in life.
You have other income or assets you can use between retirement and age 70.

The Social Security Administration says you can start retirement benefits as early as age 62, but your benefit is reduced if you claim before full retirement age. If you delay benefits beyond full retirement age, your benefit increases up to age 70. For people born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67.

Before you decide, it’s worth running the numbers. A Social Security decision shouldn’t be made in isolation. It should be tested alongside your investments, taxes, retirement income needs, spouse’s benefits, health, and estate goals.

If you’re within a few years of retirement and want to know how Social Security fits into your bigger retirement picture, a Retirement Readiness Review can help you see the trade-offs clearly before making a permanent decision.

Should You Take Social Security at Age 70?

Taking Social Security at age 70 may make sense if delaying gives you more financial confidence, a stronger income floor, and better long-term protection. But it’s not automatically the best choice for everyone.

The decision depends on several factors, including:

Your health
Your life expectancy
Your spouse’s benefit
Your retirement age
Your investments
Your tax situation
Your income needs before age 70
Your desire for guaranteed income
Your concern about market risk
Your legacy goals

The key is to avoid making the decision based on fear, rules of thumb, or someone else’s opinion. Instead, you want to ask: Which claiming age gives my retirement plan the best chance of working the way I want it to?

1. You Want the Largest Monthly Social Security Check Possible

One of the clearest reasons to wait until age 70 is simple: you get a larger monthly benefit.

Social Security gives you the option to claim as early as 62, at full retirement age, or anytime up to age 70. But those choices don’t create the same monthly income. Claiming early usually means accepting a permanent reduction. Waiting beyond full retirement age can increase your benefit through delayed retirement credits.

For someone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67. That means waiting from 67 to 70 can increase the monthly benefit. Once you reach age 70, there is no additional benefit increase for delaying longer.

This matters because retirement is expensive. Groceries, property taxes, insurance, utilities, travel, home repairs, and healthcare don’t usually get cheaper over time. A larger Social Security check can become a meaningful part of your retirement income foundation.

Think of Social Security as one of the few income sources that’s designed to last for life. Unlike an investment account, you don’t have to decide which fund to sell or worry about whether the market is up or down before your check arrives.

That doesn’t mean waiting is always better. If you need the income earlier, have serious health concerns, or don’t have enough savings to bridge the gap, taking benefits before age 70 may be reasonable. But if you have the ability to wait, the higher monthly benefit can be very valuable.

This is where planning matters. The question isn’t just, “How do I get the biggest Social Security check?” The question is, “Does the bigger check improve my overall retirement plan enough to justify waiting?”

A Retirement Readiness Review can help you compare claiming at 62, full retirement age, and 70 so you can see the impact on your actual retirement income—not just a generic example.

Waiting until age 70 can create the largest monthly retirement benefit available.
Delaying past age 70 does not increase benefits further.
A larger Social Security check can reduce pressure on your investment portfolio.
Waiting only makes sense if you can comfortably fund the years before benefits begin.
The best claiming age should be tested within your full retirement plan.

2. You Expect to Live a Long Time

Another smart reason to take Social Security at age 70 is longevity.

If you expect to live a long life, waiting may become more attractive because the larger monthly benefit has more years to pay out. This is where the Social Security decision becomes less about the first few years of retirement and more about the last few decades.

Many people focus heavily on the break-even point. That’s the age where waiting begins to pay off compared to claiming earlier. While break-even analysis can be useful, it’s incomplete. Retirement isn’t just a math problem on paper. It’s also about managing risk.

One of the biggest risks in retirement is living longer than expected. That may sound strange because a long life is a blessing. But financially, a long retirement can create challenges. The longer you live, the more years you need income. The more years you need income, the more strain there may be on your savings.

A larger Social Security benefit can help reduce that risk.

If you claim early, you may receive checks for more years. But each check is smaller. If you wait until 70, you receive fewer checks at first, but each check is larger. For someone who lives into their 80s or 90s, that higher lifetime income can become increasingly valuable.

This is especially important because your later retirement years may look different than your early retirement years. In your 60s and early 70s, you may be more active, more flexible, and more willing to adjust spending. Later in life, you may want more predictable income because you have less desire to manage investments aggressively or make constant financial decisions.

Waiting until 70 can also help protect against the fear of becoming too dependent on your portfolio late in retirement. If markets disappoint, inflation persists, or expenses rise, the larger Social Security check can provide a stronger baseline.

But again, this depends on your situation. If your family history, health, or personal circumstances suggest a shorter life expectancy, waiting until 70 may not be the best choice. The goal isn’t to blindly maximize the monthly benefit. The goal is to align the claiming decision with your realistic retirement expectations.

Waiting may make more sense if you expect to live into your 80s or 90s.
A larger benefit can help protect against outliving your savings.
Break-even analysis is useful, but it shouldn’t be the only factor.
Health, family history, and lifestyle should be part of the decision.
Longevity risk is one of the biggest risks retirees face.

3. You Want to Protect Your Spouse With a Larger Survivor Benefit

For married couples, one of the most overlooked reasons to delay Social Security is the impact on the surviving spouse.

When one spouse dies, the surviving spouse may be able to receive the higher of the two Social Security benefits. That means the larger benefit can become very important after the first spouse passes away.

This is especially relevant when one spouse was the higher earner. If the higher-earning spouse delays until age 70, that larger benefit may not only help while both spouses are alive—it may also provide a larger survivor benefit for the spouse who lives longer.

This matters because the financial picture often changes dramatically after the first spouse dies. One Social Security check usually goes away. Some pension income may decrease or stop. The surviving spouse may still have many of the same household expenses, even though income has dropped.

For example, property taxes don’t get cut in half. Home maintenance doesn’t get cut in half. Utilities may go down a little, but not always dramatically. Insurance, car expenses, and healthcare costs can still be significant. The surviving spouse may also move into a higher tax bracket than expected because they may eventually file as a single taxpayer instead of married filing jointly.

A larger survivor benefit can help soften that transition.

This is why couples should avoid making Social Security decisions as two separate individuals. The better approach is to coordinate the decision as a household. Sometimes it may make sense for one spouse to claim earlier while the higher earner waits. Other times, both may delay or use a different strategy.

The right answer depends on your ages, benefits, health, income needs, and assets.

This is also where “take it early because you never know what will happen” can become dangerous advice. It may be true that no one knows how long they’ll live. But if you’re married, the decision isn’t only about your lifetime. It may also affect your spouse’s income after you’re gone.

If your goal is to protect your spouse, delaying the higher earner’s benefit until age 70 may be one of the smartest Social Security strategies available.

The surviving spouse may receive the higher benefit after one spouse dies.
Delaying the higher earner’s benefit can help protect the surviving spouse.
Household expenses often don’t fall as much as income after one spouse passes.
Married couples should coordinate Social Security claiming decisions.
Survivor planning is a major reason not to look at Social Security in isolation.

4. You Want More Predictable Income Later in Retirement

Another smart reason to take Social Security at 70 is the desire for more predictable income.

Many retirees enter retirement with a mix of income sources. Some may have pensions. Some may have rental income. Some may have part-time work. But for many people, retirement income comes from two main places: Social Security and investments.

Investments can be powerful. They can grow. They can help fight inflation. They can provide flexibility. But they also move up and down. That creates a challenge when you need to take income from those investments every month.

If the market is doing well, portfolio withdrawals can feel easy. But if the market drops early in retirement, withdrawals can become stressful. Selling investments during a downturn can create sequence-of-returns risk, which is the risk of poor market returns early in retirement causing long-term damage to the portfolio.

A larger Social Security benefit can reduce the amount you need to withdraw from investments later. That doesn’t eliminate market risk, but it may reduce dependence on the portfolio.

This can be especially valuable as you get older. At age 70, 75, 80, or 85, you may not want your retirement income to depend heavily on market performance. You may prefer a larger portion of your essential expenses to be covered by predictable income sources.

Social Security is not the same as having a personal investment account. You don’t control it the same way. Future rules can change. Taxes can apply. But it is still a major source of lifetime retirement income for many Americans.

A larger Social Security check may help cover essential expenses like:

Housing
Groceries
Utilities
Insurance
Property taxes
Basic healthcare costs
Transportation

When more of your basic lifestyle is covered by predictable income, you may feel more comfortable investing the rest of your assets for growth, emergencies, or legacy goals.

This is where the emotional side of retirement planning matters. A plan that looks good on a spreadsheet may still fail if you can’t stick with it during a market decline. A larger Social Security check can provide confidence because it gives you a stronger income base that doesn’t depend directly on the stock market.

If you’re concerned about market volatility, delaying Social Security may be worth testing.

A larger Social Security benefit can reduce future portfolio withdrawals.
Predictable income can make retirement feel more stable.
Waiting may help protect against relying too heavily on investments later in life.
This can be especially helpful for essential expenses.
Emotional confidence matters because retirees need a plan they can actually stick with.

5. You Have Other Income or Assets to Use Before Age 70

The final smart reason to take Social Security at age 70 is that you have a strong bridge strategy.

Waiting until 70 sounds good in theory, but it creates a practical question: Where does your income come from before then?

If you retire at 62, 65, or 67 but delay Social Security until 70, you need income from somewhere. That may come from cash savings, retirement accounts, a pension, part-time work, rental income, taxable investment accounts, or a spouse’s income.

This is where the decision becomes more strategic.

In some cases, using portfolio withdrawals before age 70 may allow your Social Security benefit to grow. That can make sense if your portfolio is large enough and withdrawals are manageable. In other cases, taking too much from investments early could create unnecessary risk.

There may also be tax planning opportunities during the bridge years. For example, if you retire before required minimum distributions begin and before Social Security starts, you may have lower-income years. Those years might create opportunities to consider Roth conversions, capital gain harvesting, or strategic withdrawals.

However, Social Security taxation can be complex. Whether your benefits are taxable depends on your combined income, filing status, and other sources of income. That doesn’t mean delaying Social Security automatically lowers taxes. It may or may not. But it does mean the timing of Social Security should be coordinated with your tax plan.

This is why a bridge strategy matters. You don’t want to delay Social Security while randomly pulling money from accounts without understanding the long-term effect.

You want to know:

Which accounts should you spend from first?
Should you use cash, taxable accounts, IRA money, or Roth money?
Should you do Roth conversions before Social Security begins?
How does delaying affect future required minimum distributions?
How does it affect your spouse?
How does it affect your tax bracket?
How does it affect Medicare-related costs?

A good bridge strategy can make delaying until 70 much more realistic. Without one, waiting may create stress.

This is exactly the kind of decision that should be tested. You don’t want to guess your way through the years between retirement and age 70. You want to see how different strategies affect your income, taxes, investments, and long-term retirement outlook.

Waiting until 70 works best when you have a clear income bridge.
Bridge income may come from savings, investments, pensions, work, or other sources.
The years before Social Security begins may create tax planning opportunities.
Poor withdrawal planning can create unnecessary investment or tax problems.
A claiming strategy should be coordinated with your full retirement income plan.

Conclusion

Taking Social Security at age 70 can be a very smart strategy, but only when it fits the rest of your retirement plan.

The biggest advantage is the larger monthly check. For people who expect a long retirement, want more predictable income, or want to protect a spouse, that larger benefit can be incredibly valuable. It can reduce pressure on investments, help cover essential expenses, and create more confidence later in life.

But waiting until 70 is not automatically the right answer. If you need income earlier, have health concerns, lack enough assets to bridge the gap, or have other priorities, claiming earlier may make sense. The real mistake is not claiming at 62, 67, or 70. The real mistake is making the decision without testing it.

Social Security is connected to almost every part of retirement planning. It affects income, taxes, portfolio withdrawals, spouse protection, and long-term security. That’s why you shouldn’t make the decision based on a rule of thumb, a YouTube comment, or a neighbor’s opinion.

You should make the decision based on your numbers.

If you’re within a few years of retirement and want to know whether claiming Social Security at 62, full retirement age, or 70 makes the most sense for you, a Retirement Readiness Review can help. We’ll look at where you are today, define your retirement goals, test different claiming strategies, and help you understand the trade-offs before you make a decision.

You don’t have to move your money. You don’t have to buy a product. You just need a clear view of how your retirement plan works.

FAQs

Is it always better to take Social Security at age 70?

No. Taking Social Security at 70 gives you the largest monthly benefit, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best choice. If you need income earlier, have serious health concerns, or don’t have enough assets to bridge the gap, claiming earlier may be more practical. The best decision depends on your full retirement plan.

What happens if I wait past age 70 to claim Social Security?

There is generally no benefit to waiting past age 70 to claim retirement benefits. Once you’re 70 or older, you do not receive additional benefit increases for delaying.

Is Social Security taxable if I wait until age 70?

It can be. Social Security taxation depends on your combined income, not just your claiming age. Depending on your income, filing status, and other retirement income sources, a portion of your Social Security benefits may be taxable.

I’ll write another article about how Social Security is taxed in the near future.