Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

Compensation was paid to utilize rankings. Click here to read full disclosure.

When Should You Take Social Security?

By

By Pamela Au @ Shutterstock.com

When should you take Social Security? It depends. That’s a question Your Survival Guy is asked frequently. The answer is personal. It’s been my experience that talking with a local Social Security Administration representative is helpful (you can find your local SSA office here). You are the best advocate for what your income needs are and will be.

But, yes, it’s nice to defer it for as long as possible.

Action Line: When you need help with your private retirement savings, let’s talk.

Investment Concerns? Save Money. Get My Friday Email. It’s Free
The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)

Recent Posts from YourSurvivalGuy.com

What the Fed Rate Cut Means to You

Remember when the talking heads said to stay away from bonds? That the balanced approach was dead? Well, they were wrong. Not that I’m taking a victory lap, I’m not. Because now that the Fed has cut interest rates by a half point, fixed income investing just got that much harder. All those eschewing bonds […]

Fidelity Investments: Safeguarding Your Accounts

Within Fidelity’s excess of SIPC coverage, there is no per-customer dollar limit on coverage of securities, but there is a per-customer limit of $1.9 million on coverage of cash awaiting investment. This is the maximum excess of SIPC protection currently available in the brokerage industry. What is SIPC? The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) is […]

Are You Working with a Fiduciary?

Are you working with a fiduciary? How would you know? You should ask. Here’s what it means to be a fiduciary from Fidelity: The fiduciary rule is a regulation underpinning fiduciary duty, or the legal requirement for financial advisors to work in their customers’ best interest. Issued by the U.S Department of Labor, the fiduciary […]

Find a Fidelity Investment’s Branch Location Near You

Are you looking for a Fidelity branch location near you? Here is a list of branches by state from Fidelity: Alabama Birmingham 216 Summit Boulevard Suite 110 Birmingham, AL 35243 800-873-5140 Arizona Chandler Chandler Pavilions 7001 West Ray Road Chandler, AZ 85226-1517 800-544-7095 Peoria 7565 W. Bell Road, Peoria AZ 85382 800-227-0629 Phoenix-Biltmore 3240 East […]

Interest Rates Your Dad Would Be Proud Of

America’s debt load is the highest it’s been since the post-WWII era. Look at the interest costs to carry all that debt in the chart below, and imagine you had such a personal debt load. Wouldn’t you want to reduce it? Of course, you would. Now, throw in the fact that the government can print […]

The Size of the Fed’s Bond Holdings

When interest rates decline, bond prices increase. Now you see one of the motivations for the Fed and the federal government to cut rates. It increases the value of the Fed’s bonds and reduces the payments on interest for new borrowing to finance the government’s debt. Action Line: Click here to subscribe to my free […]

Fed Reserve Loves Free Money

Who said history doesn’t repeat? The Fed is firing up its old free money truck. It’s just a different driver. “The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.” – Ben Bernanke Investment […]

A Gold Standard Would Provide Discipline to Government

Your Survival Guy doesn’t want you to be in the interest rate prediction business because the talking heads just might end up being wrong. Sure, the Fed funds rate may come down, but what if the buyers for the rest of the yield curve have a different opinion? Bond prices trade in anticipation of what’s […]

401(k) Blindspot for Rollover IRA Investors

When you roll over a 401(k) to a Rollover IRA, you need to remember the default is to put the money in cash. Greg Iacurci explains at CNBC: Many investors unknowingly make a costly mistake when rolling their money from a 401(k) plan to an individual retirement account: leaving their money in cash. Rollovers from […]

Why the Fed Needs Rates Lowered

Why does the Federal Reserve want so desperately to lower rates? It’s about servicing the debt. The United States has rapidly run up its debt load, and refinancing all that debt at high rates will be difficult to pay for. So even if it means additional inflation, the Federal Reserve plans to lower rates. Action […]

Don’t Invite Problems into Your Portfolio

When you’re looking at dividend-paying stocks, mutual funds, or ETFs, you want to be selective because, historically, it’s not the highest payers that have performed the best. And when investors reach for yield and buy those highest payers, they tend to invite avoidable problems into their portfolio. There’s a difference between the dividend-centric investor who […]

The Stock Market Woodchipper

There’s a lot of slicing and dicing going on in today’s markets. When you have more ETFs than stocks to buy, that’s a problem. In The Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig wonders if there’s any asset left to make an ETF out of. He writes that “Good new investing ideas are getting harder to come […]

To the Media, Some Lives Matter More than Others

Once again, over the weekend, President Donald Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt. This time, the President was playing golf and was shot at by a man named Ryan Wesley Routh. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board explains: One question is how Mr. Routh knew Mr. Trump would be golfing on Sunday at […]

529 to Roth IRA

If you have a 529 plan that exceeds what was needed for education costs, there may be a way to roll it over into a Roth IRA. Laura Saunders explains in The Wall Street Journal: It happens more than you think, given the spiraling costs of college: People who save money for a child’s education […]

Do You Look Marvelous? See My Friend Marc

Your Survival Guy visited my friend Marc Streisand this week, owner/proprietor of Marc Allen Fine Clothiers, Custom Suits, and Imported Sportswear, to pick up my handmade, bespoke cashmere sport coat. It’s such a beautiful piece, I can’t wait to put it on when we hit Paris for three weeks in October. Every time I leave […]