For those people facing retirement today, full retirement age is 67 with the ability to start drawing Social Security at 62. So should you start taking it at 62 or wait the five years to full retirement age. Here’s some very basic facts for those faced with this decision:

First: Are you actually retired? If you start drawing Social Security and have earned income in excess of about 20,000, they will start taking back $1 for every $2 over that limit. Thus, it is likely not worth it if you are still working full time.

Next, let’s provide some numbers: Life expectancy right now is around 83 years. The break even point for drawing early (if you spend the money and don’t invest it) is around 78. Thus, if you live to life expectancy, you lose by drawing early. If you live well beyond life expectancy (1 in 4 will live to 90), you really lose. However, if you die before 78, you will have benefited by drawing early. So drawing early is really a gamble on your own life.

Now, if you start drawing early and invest the money (most don’t) until full retirement age and can get an average return of around 5%, the break even jumps to around 90. So investors can beat the system drawing early if they truly invest all the money.

Of course there are other reasons for drawing early such as you don’t trust the government not to change the system or reduce benefits and view a bird in the hand as being better than nothing. In any case, this can be a difficult decision to make and must be made after taking a hard look at your own facts and circumstances because there really is no right, wrong, or definitive answer.