3 Reasons You May Not Want to Claim Social Security at 70

One neat thing about Social Security is that you can choose when to first take benefits. The earliest age to sign up is 62. And if you were born in 1960 or later, you can collect your monthly benefits without a reduction at full retirement age, which is 67.

But some people will tell you that it pays to delay your Social Security claim past full retirement age and sign up for benefits at 70. Doing so results in boosted monthly checks for life.

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You may like the sound of that. But that doesn't mean claiming Social Security at 70 is definitely the right choice for you. Here are three reasons you may not want to sign up for benefits at 70.

1. You may not want to work that long

If you have a large amount of money saved for retirement, you may be able to retire in your 60s, live off your IRA or 401(k) for a few years, and claim Social Security at 70. But if you don't have a very large balance in your retirement account, you may have to work until 70 to be able to claim benefits at 70. And that's something you may not be thrilled to do.

Of course, if you love your job and it brings you a lot of joy, working longer could make sense. But if your job is stressful and demanding, it may get even harder to do as you get older. And you may find that you want out at an earlier age than 70.

2. You may not live that long

Delaying Social Security until age 70 is guaranteed to put more money in your pocket on a monthly basis. But that doesn't mean you'll come out ahead financially over your lifetime. If you only end up living until your mid-70s, you could lose out on lifetime Social Security income by virtue of waiting until 70 to take benefits.

Of course, the tricky thing is that you can't predict your own lifespan. If you could, retirement planning would be much easier. And while you can use your current health as a guideline, even people with chronic issues sometimes end up living longer than expected. And on the flip side, sometimes people in great shape see their health suddenly take a turn for the worse.

Either way, delaying Social Security until 70 means risking a smaller total lifetime benefit. If you aren't comfortable with that risk, you may want to file sooner.

3. You may get better use out of the money when you're younger

While there's something nice about getting to collect a larger Social Security check each month, if you force yourself to wait until 70 to file, you may find that you're too old to enjoy some of the things you wanted to do with that money.

Let's say hiking in Europe has always been on your bucket list. If, come age 70, your knees can't handle it, then your larger checks may not have as much meaning if they can't buy you the experience you always dreamed of.

But what if, in this scenario, your knees were still in perfectly good shape three years earlier? By delaying your claim past full retirement age, you may have denied yourself a big opportunity.

Of course, this is just a hypothetical scenario. It's more than possible that your health will be strong at 70 and you'll be able to use your benefits to meet your biggest goals. The real question is, are you willing to take that risk?

There's a very clear financial benefit to waiting on Social Security until age 70. But before you get too excited about the idea of larger monthly checks, think about the drawbacks that come with waiting. You may come to the conclusion that claiming Social Security at 70 is not a good idea for you at all.

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