Many Americans are saying 'why wait' to draw Social Security?

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When it comes to Social Security benefits, more Americans are saying, 'Why wait?'

Just 10% of non-retired Americans say they will hold out until they turn 70 to get the maximum payout from their federal retirement benefits, according to the 2023 Schroders U.S. Retirement Survey of 2,000 U.S. investors ages 27-79.

Four in 10 of those surveyed who were still working said they intended to tap their Social Security benefits between the ages 62-65, too early to qualify for full payments, according to Schroders, an asset management firm, which conducted the survey from February 13 to March 3.

How much a retiree receives depends on the age they retire. For instance, if you stop working this year at full retirement age (which differs based on when you were born, so look here to see where you stand), your top monthly payout would be $3,627. But if you retire when you're 62, your maximum benefit would be $2,572. Meanwhile, at age 70, your top monthly payment would be $4,555.

Most Americans know that tapping benefits earlier means getting less money. But the survey found 44% of Americans are worried Social Security may run out of cash, while 36% figure they'll need their money sooner rather than later.  

The choice: Eating or keeping cool

During what was the earth's hottest month on record, a growing number of Americans had to make a wrenching decision: buy food or pay steep air conditioning bills.

Utility shutoffs have risen by 15% as compared to last summer, according to a poll of 2,581 food stamp recipients taken between July 1 - July 14, and released last week by Propel, which builds technology focused on helping low-income Americans. The shutoffs impacted Black households disproportionately, with 14% of those homes experiencing their utilities being shut off in the last 30 days vs. 10% and 11% of their white and Latino peers, the survey found. 

“My sense is that we will have record cooling costs this summer,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), which supports programs that help low-income families pay utilities. Those costs are “not as a result of prices but as a result of increased demand to address high temperatures.”

President Joe Biden declared the first-ever Hazard Alert for heat in July, boosting safeguards for people who have to work outside and allocating millions to improve weather forecasting and infrastructure to resist drought.  

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