The biggest story in Social Security today concerns the large number of baby boomers set to retire over the next 15 years and the relatively smaller younger generations feeding Social Security payroll taxes into the system. Adding additional stress to the system is the reality that, on average, today’s seniors are living longer than any previous generation. While that’s good news, it presents challenges to the Social Security system, and in other areas as well. Living longer increases the potential for increased medical and long-term care expenses while in retirement. This may be particularly true for those who have been active all their lives and had relatively few medical expenses prior to retirement. 

Furthermore, the value of your nest egg could be more significantly impacted by increases in the cost of living over a longer term. Quite simply, you could outlive your savings. When you consider all of these factors, it is important to make informed decisions about when to begin receiving Social Security benefits within the context of your overall retirement income strategy. 

There are strategies a financial professional could help you implement that may identify income gaps and help reduce the risk of outliving your money, including insurance products, such as annuities.