Poor Social Security Knowledge Has Big Costs

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I'm not surprised at how many people don't understand Social Security. I don't and I keep getting conflicting advice from financial advisors and other people who have been getting Social Security. There must be some way to supply a simple explanation in simple English. But is there?
I'm 62, anxious to start Social Security due to my reduced earned income in the current financial crisis. I intend to keep working. Some people say wait until you've reached full retirement age for social security, others say, start now. I'm finding it difficult to weigh the pros and cons. Will I have reduced benefits the rest of my life if I start taking Social Security now is the basic question. But then, how to balance this against what I may receive later. I can't figure it out.

Christopher Beaver of CA 2:26AM September 17, 2010

Will retirees ever get an increase again?

Joyce McIntyre of FL 4:23PM January 05, 2010

There can be no crisis because all that must be done to avoid a crisis is raise the taxes. "Raise taxes" is a phrase that flows too easily. Why not? Go ahead. No one is watching anyway.
Raise taxes? Yes we can.

Jason of OR 9:21AM September 10, 2009

I think the biggest gap in awareness is around when to begin taking Social Security. Many assume it's best to take it at age 62, but that's not necessarily true. For those who continue to work part time, are healthy, have good "genes", and have sufficient income to cover fixed expenses, it's best to delay taking benefits for as long as you can. For each year you delay taking benefits, your benefit will increase by about 8%, and in this economy, that's a great return on investment. This assumes that Congress doesn't meddle with the program and change the rules. At some point they will have to do that. I just hope they Grandfather us old timers who are approaching our full retirement age in without penalty.

Jim of CO 5:35PM September 09, 2009

The facts that people don't understand about Social Security pointed at by your essay are not very important.
The much more important lack of understanding that 99.9% of the people, and 99% of commentators have about Social Security is that they haven't a clue about how it works and why it works that way, and therefore why there is no "crisis" and can never be a crisis in Social Security.
The facts are not hard to understand, but there is an entire industry devoted to confusing the people, and that includes most commentators and reporters.
Social Security is an insurance program for workers, paid for by workers. If the cost of benefits ever exceeds the tax income that supports it, it would be very easy to increase the tax -- really the insurance premium. The projected cost of that increase... due entirely to the fact that the people paying the tax are going to be living longer than the people the last time the tax rate was set... will be about 80 cents per week in some but not all years between now and 2085... with the first such increase not needed until 2026 or so. Meanwhile incomes will be going up ten dollars per week every year on average.

Dale Coberly of OR 1:33PM September 09, 2009