When Should I Take Social Security Benefits?

A recently published book on social security may be just the tool you need. The book is Get What's Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security, by Laurence J. Kotlikoff, a Professor of Economics at Boston University. And don't worry, the book is not full of equations, but instead easy to read and to understand.

Is social security really so complicated that I need to shell out $12.40 (as of April 9, 2015 at Amazon.com) to know  at what age I should start taking my benefits? Um, yes, as Janet Novak over at Forbes points out, "[B]y Kotlikoff’s reckoning, the Social Security Administration has 2,728 rules and  the formula for determining the benefits of a married spouse 'involves 10 complex mathematical functions, one of which is in four dimensions.'"

Ms. Novak also points out some helpful tools to help you calculate at what age to start taking benefits. One, from AARP is free. The other, from the book's author is $40 annually, although I am not sure why one would need the tool on an annual subscription basis. Here is the link to Maximize My Social Security.