Many Americans Opting To Take Social Security Before Full Retirement Age

• more than 4 in 10 Americans who are 50 and over say they’ll dip into the program before reaching full retirement age.
• 44 percent report Social Security will be their biggest source of income during their retirement years.
• The average age at which people expect to start or have started collecting Social Security benefits is 64. Just 9 percent said they would wait until after they turned 70.
• the average American still retires relatively early, at age 64 for men and age 62 for women, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
• a quarter of workers over 50 say they never plan to retire, a sentiment more common among lower-income workers.