The Motley Fool on MSN: When to Claim Social Security? The Only 3 Strategies I Recommend. The Motley Fool: Social Security Claiming Strategies: Understanding the Drawbacks of Claiming Early Everyone's situation is different, but these three strategies can provide a great starting point for your retirement plans.

Understanding the Context

When it comes to collecting Social Security benefits, married couples enjoy certain advantages that aren’t available to their single counterparts. To maximize their benefits, for example, each spouse ... AOL: You Might Regret Ignoring This Social Security Strategy -- Especially If You're Married You Might Regret Ignoring This Social Security Strategy -- Especially If You're Married If you claim Social Security before you reach full retirement age, your benefit will be permanently reduced. Depending on when you were born and how early you start collecting benefits, the reduction ...

Key Insights

For married couples with unequal historical earnings, it may make sense for the lower income spouse to file for Social Security benefits early or before the higher earner. Ultimately, deciding when to ...