OK, I'll climb onto my little soapbox for a spell.
The decision as to when to draw should not be based on how long it will take you to "break even"- you should be looking at what you will have to live on when you're fully retired (ie, can't farm anymore). You'll have 25% less per month Social Security if you start at 62 than if you wait until "full retirement age"- I'm thinking 66 for you. If you have a farm to sell, or have put a lot into an IRA, it might not be as much of a problem. But lots of guys with few other assets get $1,500 SS at 62, and when they are in their 70's struggling to stay afloat, it occurs to them that the extra $500 a month they would have gotten by waiting would sure come in handy.
The other problem with starting at 62 (if you're still making an outside income) is that you are heavily penalized on SS if your other income exceeds a fairly small amount. I'm not familiar with the exact numbers- talk to a CPA. But if you wait until full retirement age, you can make as much as you want, without reducing your SS. You just pay ordinary income tax on 85% of your SS.
So, IMHO, you're better off to wait until full retirement age unless you have little or no other income, and need SS to survive. Lots of guys in physically demanding jobs retire and draw at 62 because they can't "cut the mustard" any more, which is perfectly understandable. But if you're still going to work past 62, it just doesn't make much sense to start early.
Wife and I are taking it one step further- I started drawing at full retirement age (66), and then she started drawing half of mine. That way her account (which is better than mine) continues to grow at 8% a year until she reaches 70, at which time she can drop off mine and start taking hers. The $900 a month that she will get on mine for 4 years has no effect on anything, and its like money falling out of the sky. This only works if both of you are about the same age, because you both have to be at full retirement age to do it.
And it used to be even more bizarre- I could start drawing at 66, she could start getting half of mine at 66, then I could "suspend" (stop drawing and pay everything back that I had drawn), then BOTH of our accounts would grow at 8% a year until 70. They did close that loophole last year.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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