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People entitled to full benefits at 66 would receive 75 percent of their check if they began collecting four years early. Conversely, if they waited until they turned 70, collecting four years late, they would earn 32 percent more. They would receive the decreased -- or increased -- percentages for the rest of their life. "From the trustees' perspective it's a wash, because they calculate you'll get the same total benefit," said Maria Freese, director of government relations and policy at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Freese added, though, that beneficiaries generally only opt in early because they have to. "When you retire early, you are taking a hit in your monthly check, and most people don't do that voluntarily," she said. "They either do that because they aren't healthy enough to keep working or because they lost their job." Nora Lopez, 62, of Hialeah, Fla., retired from her job as an elementary school teacher last year and began collecting Social Security. She did so, in part, because of health problems. When her school district offered teachers the option of keeping their health insurance coverage until they qualified for Medicare at 65, she decided she could get by on her pension and Social Security. "I wanted to work as long as I could," she said. "But it was hard for me to do that." For some, it's simply a matter of doing the math that prompts them to cash in early. Jack Dixon, 63, of Naples, Fla., stopped working full-time in April as a trolley driver and tour guide, cutting back to one day a week. He decided to do it after his wife figured out they'd be able to get by even with the reduced Social Security benefit. "Why should I go out there to the hustle and bustle and stress and all the stuff that's related to work if I don't have to?" he asked.
[Associated
Press;
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