Munnell, Alicia Haydock, Alex Golub-Sass, and Nadia S. Karamcheva. “Strange but true”. Issue in Brief 9-11, Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, May 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104269.
Abstract
The brief's key findings are: (1) During the current economic crisis, many older workers are postponing retirement and some retirees are re-entering the labor force. (2) Re-entrants age 66 and over can put their Social Security benefits "on hold" in exchange for higher benefits later. (3) This "claim and suspend" strategy also offers greater flexibility to one-earner couples, allowing the higher earner to delay benefits while his spouse claims. (4) The potential costs to Social Security are modest.