When should one take SS benefits before FRE?

The question: Is it smart to claim Social Security benefits as soonas eligibility begins at age 62? Or is it better to wait until what thegovernment terms “full retirement age,” which falls between 65 and 67,depending on the year of one’s birth?  Makingthe right choice means reckoning with tradeoffs. Takers at age 62 pay aprice: Each monthly check is forever reduced to 75 percent of what itwould have been had they waited to full retirement age. On the upside,they’re pocketing for several years a heap of cash that they otherwisewouldn’t have had during that period.  Despite the penalties involved, many Americans –about 50 percent, according to the Social Security Administration –take the money as soon as they can get it. But according to severalpersonal finance experts, that decision makes good sense for only a fewdistinct groups of people.  People still working in their early- to mid-60sare usually wise to wait until full retirement age before claimingbenefits, according to Michael Schulman, a New York City certifiedpublic accountant with a focus on elder issues. One big reason: Afterthe first $12,960 earned in a given year, a person claiming benefitsforfeits $1 in benefit payments for every $2 earned before fullretirement age. “By taking it at age 62, you’re taking the lower benefit, and you’re forfeiting it to boot. So there’s no point,” he concludes.  Buteven though many (perhaps most) would do better financially in the longrun by delaying gratification, the rules are such that certainindividuals should at least consider taking their payments early,according to Schulman and other advisers. Here are some of those groupswhom they say might be smart to take the money and run at age 62:

You have to go here to get the rest of this story:  http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0604/p13s01-wmgn.html