this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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Should you claim your pension early or wait? (www.mpg.de)
submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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In the U.S., the monthly payments increase the longer one works—researchers have now examined whether delaying retirement is financially worthwhile.

  • Earlier retirement: Researchers have analyzed data from the United States to examine whether retiring earlier is worthwhile.
  • Findings: The study shows that the financial risk of delaying retirement particularly affects men and low-income groups in the U.S.
  • Making the most of it: For sick individuals in the U.S., retiring early can help them receive some of the benefits they paid for—even if they do not have long to live.
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[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 days ago

It is meant to keep our elders out of poverty

Yes, the definition of a "welfare program" is something that keeps people out of poverty. According to Wikipedia:

Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter.

That pretty closely matches my understanding of what Social Security is. Here's the way benefits currently are calculated:

  1. initial amount is calculated as 90% of the first $X you make, 32% of your next $Y, and 15% up to the limit
  2. when you start taking benefits - you get 75% at 62, 100% at 67, and 124% at 70
  3. extra if you're married

Poorer people will:

  • get a bigger share of their working-years income
  • take SS later - so monthly checks will be larger

So yeah, it's a forced contribution to a welfare program, but the welfare program is not as generous as others because it also functions as a retirement program for middle class people.

I think we should take this to its logical conclusion:

  • don't provide benefits for those who don't need it (i.e. >= 4x the poverty line)
  • base benefits on need, not how much you paid in - the less you earn, the more you get
  • eliminate age restriction - allow poor people (working or not) to get benefits

I'm thinking it could be used to fund a Negative Income Tax (similar to Universal Basic Income), where if you report income under some amount, you get Social Security benefits, regardless of age.

I’m told I’ll only get 70% of what i am due because of decades of government stealing the money and calling it a loan.

Then you're reading a bit too much into what clickbait articles say. The actual fact is that Social Security will be underfunded if nothing changes, and there's plenty of time to make changes.