My wife and I both turned 66 this year, and both decided to start taking SS.
My wife was initally planning to wait until 70 to get her max benefit, but when we looked at what that amount was, and what she would get from mine as a survivor benefit if/when I die before her, it was nearly the same amount. The decision to start this year was a no-brainer.
Just as a point of interest- we looked at what we had both paid into SS, plus our employer's contributions, and it will take roughly 10 years for our current benefits to burn thru that amount, but that doesn't take into account the value of the money at the time we paid it in. It's probably more likely that the equivalent value of what we paid in, vs. what we will take out, would take 30-40 years to equalize.
