Retire Early
The earliest age at which you can start collecting it is 62 and the latest is 70. This will effect social security in different ways, however.
If you want to retire at, say, 60, you will have to do so without Social Security income, at least for a while. Enter your IRA you can start collecting from IRAs as early as age 59 1/2. (You can actually start earlier, but it’s not recommended, as you’ll face an early withdrawal penalty.) So having a plump IRA from which to draw income can help you retire earlier, if you’re lucky enough (or you’ve been disciplined enough in your saving and investing) to be able to afford that.
Waiting Can Lead To Larger Social Security Checks
Making your Social Security checks bigger (or smaller) is possible by starting to collect later or earlier than your “full retirement age” the age at which you can start receiving the full benefits to which you’re entitled based on your work history.
If you stand a decent chance of living a longer-than-average life, it will be worthwhile to delay starting to collect Social Security as long as you can ideally until age 70. Income from an IRA can help you get by until your Social Security checks start flowing.
Another reason to delay collecting Social Security, if you’re married and are the higher earner, is to make your checks as large as possible for when you or your spouse are widowed and able to claim the larger of your two benefit checks.
Social Security is nothing that should be taken lightly. Talk to a professional social security disability attorney before you claim otherwise you could stand to lose thousands of dollars.