Ken and Rick discuss the pros and cons of retiring early and how this can affect social security benefits and taxes.

If you know a little about Social Security, you may know that you can start collecting your benefits as early as age 62 and that you can delay starting to collect them for a long time. Thus, each of us has a decision to make at some point in our lives regarding when to start collecting Social Security.

If you and your spouse have a nice amount of money saved up, then you may decide that you'll each claim Social Security as soon as you're able to — meaning, at age 62. And if you're the same age, that would have you filing for benefits at the same time.

A child’s benefits can only begin once their parent has begun receiving retirement benefits. If a parent claims Social Security before their full retirement age, both their benefit and their child’s benefit will be reduced. However, claiming early for a reduced amount could still mean some families come out ahead financially.

In some columns I wrote earlier this month about the repeal of laws that affect people who spent a large portion of their careers working at jobs that were not covered by Social Security, it became very clear to me that many people wondered why that is.