Martha Shedden has spent 15 years trying to talk Americans out of panicking. Lately, she says, it’s a losing battle.
She cofounded the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts (NARSSA), the organization that trains and certifies financial professionals as registered Social Security analysts, or RSSAs. In an interview with Fortune, she described a pattern she’s watching play out across the country: Retirees and near retirees, spooked by headlines about the program’s finances, are claiming benefits at 62—the earliest possible age—even when waiting would leave them better off.
