I hope to retire in a year or two. What advantages are there to delaying getting my Social Security payments until I'm 70, if I work until 67 or 70? I'm now 65.

The Social Security system entitles you to an increased amount in benefits for each year you wait to claim them -- up until age 70. It also reduces your benefits if you retire early. If you'd started claiming benefits at any time between age 62 and your full retirement age (65, 66, or 67, depending on your year of birth), the amount would have been permanently reduced a fraction of a percent for each month before your full retirement age.

But you've already passed that point, and are entitled to full benefits -- but still not as much as they'd be if you wait longer. You can get a graphic depiction of your potential benefit amounts directly from the Social Security Administration. Contact the SSA at 800-772-1213 or go to its website at www.socialsecurity.gov to request your Social Security Statement. You'll get a complete record of your lifetime earnings -- along with an estimate of the monthly benefits you will receive at various retirement ages.

Even though you'll receive more money per month the longer you wait, it's not always better to hold out. For example, you may want to claim benefits earlier if you need money to cover your basic living expenses, or if you have a medical condition that makes it likely that you won't live past age 75.

You can use a calculator at the Social Security website to see what retirement age makes most financial sense for you. Go to http://ssa.gov/planners/calculators.htm and enter your current earnings information without a planned retirement date. The calculator will give you your benefit estimates for three different retirement ages, just like your Social Security Statement. But unlike your statement, if you click on "break-even age," the calculator will tell you how long you must live to make delaying benefits worthwhile.

For instance, if a person could collect $900 per month when turning 62, but would get $1,700 per month by waiting until age 70, the calculator will show that he or she would have to live at least until age 80 1/2 to break even. That means that if the person lived beyond age 80 1/2, it would be worth delaying retirement to age 70. But if the person were to die before age 80, collecting benefits earlier would have been better. Now we just need a calculator to tell us how long we'll live. (But would we really want to look?)