We're 62 With $1.8M - Here's Why We're Taking Social Security NOW

The standard advice on Social Security is to wait, since your benefit grows the longer you delay claiming, up to age 70. That advice makes sense for a lot of households, but it is not universal. For a 62-year-old couple with $1.8 million saved, claiming early can be the better move once you look at the full picture rather than the benefit amount in isolation.

Deciding when to claim is not really a question about maximizing your monthly check. It is a question about how Social Security fits into your broader income, tax, and withdrawal plan alongside everything else you have saved.

Here is how a couple with $1.8 million might reasonably decide that claiming at 62 makes more sense than waiting.

Key takeaways:

• Claiming Social Security at 62 permanently reduces your monthly benefit compared with waiting, but it is not automatically the wrong choice for every household.

• With $1.8 million saved, claiming early can reduce how much you need to withdraw from your portfolio in the first years of retirement.

• Claiming early can also preserve more of your portfolio for Roth conversions during a lower-income window before required minimum distributions begin.

• Spousal benefit rules mean the higher earner's claiming decision affects what the lower earner, and a surviving spouse, will eventually receive.

• The right claiming age depends on your health, other income sources, and how the decision fits your full tax and withdrawal plan, not on the benefit amount alone.

Why Claiming at 62 Can Make Sense With $1.8 Million Saved

Waiting until 70 to claim Social Security increases your monthly benefit compared with claiming at 62, and that math is accurate. What it leaves out is that the years between 62 and 70 still need to be funded from somewhere, and for a household relying entirely on portfolio withdrawals during that stretch, claiming early can reduce the pressure on your savings during the years when sequence of returns risk matters most. A smaller, earlier Social Security check can mean withdrawing less from your $1.8 million in your early 60s, leaving more of your portfolio invested and better positioned to recover from any market downturn in those first years.

This tradeoff is different for every household. It depends on how much of your $1.8 million you are comfortable drawing down, whether you have other income, and how you weigh a smaller guaranteed benefit now against a larger one later.

Using Portfolio Withdrawals and Social Security Together, Not in Sequence

Rather than treating Social Security and portfolio withdrawals as a simple either-or choice, a coordinated plan uses both together from the start. Claiming at 62 reduces how much you need to withdraw each year, which in turn can free up room to do Roth conversions in the same years, since your reported taxable income from withdrawals is lower. That combination, a smaller withdrawal need plus a lower tax bracket, is often more valuable to a household with $1.8 million than the larger Social Security check they would receive by waiting.

The tradeoff only works when it is planned deliberately. Claiming early without a coordinated withdrawal and conversion strategy just means spending down your portfolio faster without capturing the tax benefit that makes the early claim worthwhile.

Coordinating Spousal Benefits and Survivor Protection

For married couples, the claiming decision is not just about one person's benefit. The lower-earning spouse's benefit can be affected by the higher earner's claiming age, and if one spouse passes away, the surviving spouse generally keeps the larger of the two benefits. That means the higher earner's claiming decision deserves the most scrutiny, since it has a lasting effect on the household even after one spouse is gone.

A couple choosing to claim early at 62 should look at both benefits together, and consider whether one spouse claiming earlier while the other delays could better balance current income needs against long-term survivor protection.

Is claiming Social Security at 62 always a mistake?

No. Claiming early permanently reduces your monthly benefit, but for some households it reduces portfolio withdrawals during vulnerable early retirement years and frees up income to support other tax planning, which can outweigh the smaller check.

How does claiming early affect my spouse's benefit?

Spousal and survivor benefits are tied to each spouse's own claiming decision, so the higher earner's choice can affect both what the lower-earning spouse receives now and what a surviving spouse receives later.

Why would I claim early if waiting increases my benefit?

Claiming early can reduce how much you need to withdraw from your portfolio in your early retirement years, which can lower sequence of returns risk and create room for Roth conversions while your taxable income is lower.

Does claiming at 62 affect my ability to do Roth conversions?

It can help. A smaller Social Security benefit means less taxable income from that source, which can leave more room in a given tax bracket for Roth conversions in the same year.