Because we have an underage child, DW can get $1200/month in SS benefits from age 62 to 70. When DW turns 70 our daughter will be 18, and DW's SS benefit will be reduced to $800/month for the rest of her life.
If DW waits until she's 70 to begin collecting SS benefits, she'll get $1400/month for the rest of her life, but we'll miss out on 96 months of $1200/month SS benefits = $115,200. If we decide to take DW's SS benefits at age 62, so that we can take advantage of the $400 extra child benefits, we'll probably just spend all of the money we get from SS, but it'll allow us to not have to withdraw $115,200 from our investments over 8 years near the beginning of our retirement, hopefully allowing that money to continue growing to create even more income for us down the road when we're older.
So, the question is should we take DW's SS benefits of $1200/month at age 62? Or should we wait until DW's 70 years old and then get $1400/month for the rest of her life? Both of my wife's grandmothers lived until their early 90's, so chances are my wife is going to live at least that long as well.
Right now, I'm 49 and DW's 58. We're planning to FIRE at the end of 2015. DW can begin collecting $1200/month in 2019, three years after we retire. The $1200/month will be about 1/3 of our projected spending during retirement. I've run a bunch of scenarios using cFIREsim, and it looks like our portfolio has a better chance of surviving 40 years if we take the $1200/month from 2019-2027. It makes sense that taking pressure off of the stock portfolio early in retirement helps with results.
Since I'm 9 years younger than DW, right around the time when her SS benefits drop down to $800/month in 2027, I'll be turning 62 and be eligible for SS benefits of about $800/month as well. So, if in 2027 the stock market isn't doing well and we need extra money, we could take my SS benefits then, otherwise we could put off taking my benefits for a few years, or until I'm 70, so that we'd get a bigger check later on...
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help!