A Retirement Riddle:

The oldest boomers are 57, and they can start Social Security when they turn 62. They also could choose to wait until their full retirement ages — older than 65 for all of them. Or they can wait, watching their benefits grow, as late as their 70th birthdays.

These days a lot of people are retiring early. Many are forced out, but a major portion get out because they can and because they want to do something other than the J-O-B.

But what about Social Security? It turns out that the choice is not easy.

The traditional question is deciding which way you come out better. Do you get more total cash by snatching the benefit as soon as you can or by holding out? That one is not a puzzler anymore. It's easy, and in fact it's automated.

But just past that question lies a thicket of really difficult questions. Given all your resources, when can you afford to retire? How long do you expect to live — and how well?

Those can get really complex. Here's the advice of Lita Epstein, the Atlantan who wrote "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Social Security": Make your own plan, then hire an expert to review it.

Begin with estimate

First things first. To get an estimate of what your monthly benefit would be at any age from 62 through 70, go to www.socialsecurity.gov and click on Calculate Your Benefits. It's right in the middle of the page. You'll find three calculators, ranging from quick-and-dirty to detailed-and-exasperating.

Suppose that you are 57 this year and you make $50,000 a year. If you start taking benefits at age 62, you can expect $1,018 each month. If you wait till full retirement — which is age 66 — the quick-and-dirty estimate is $1,421. If you push it all the way back to age 70, thereby shortening the time you'll be drawing on the system, you can look for $1,960.

In general, say Epstein and other experts, most people ought to take the money as early as they can. But that's if you're thinking only about total return.

The truth is you've got to meld this decision in with a lot of other factors.

Your resources, for example. Social Security is not what you're going to live on, unless you always wanted to get hung out on the poverty line. Most people also expect to draw on individual retirement accounts and the like, 401(k)s and other savings. Many have pensions, and many plan to work even after they start drawing Social Security. A spouse's Social Security benefit adds more complexity for many families.

All those income streams must be factored in. Some of them — including pensions and earned income — are linked to Social Security and may reduce the amount of government money you're entitled to.

What about your expectations?

Poor health might be the decision-maker. If you don't expect to last all that long, why put off receiving benefits?

On the other hand, people are living longer these days, on average. Suppose you and your spouse are in good health, and all your parents lived to ripe old ages. You might need to plan on making your money last for 25 or even 30 years. "If somebody is healthy and doesn't need the money early, maybe they benefit from waiting and getting the higher amount," mused William J. Kring, a certified financial planner with Kring Financial Management.

Expectations a factor

Your expectations about what you'll do with your retirement years also can change the game.

Want to travel around the world? That would run up your retirement spending plans. It's not necessarily the cost of living that you plan for but the cost of living well.

Frankly, it turns out that the question we started with — which is the best deal — is a question for fairly well-off folks.

If you must have the money for beans and jeans, then you won't worry about whether you can get a better deal by deferring the payments. About one-third of America's retirees get 90 percent or more of their income from Social Security.

But if you have enough money to have choices, here are some things to think about:

• "Even if you don't need it, I'm a fan of taking the money early and investing it," said Kyle H. Flynn, a certified financial planner in Atlanta. "That's money that you can use for other goals, such as estate planning or charitable gifts. But it does take a lot of discipline."

• Social Security will run short of money sometime in the future, especially if our elected leaders can't agree on ways to shore it up. But that may not be all that soon.

"I think everybody 40 and older can count on it being there for a certain period," Kring said. "We need to prepare for the reality that there could be a reduction of benefits or greater taxation of benefits, which in the end is the same thing."

He tells his clients to think about finding a replacement for Social Security income — but not until about 2030.

• You can find plenty of good advice, free or for a fee.

A good place to start is the Social Security Administration itself, at www.socialsecurity.gov or by calling 1-800-772-1213. And don't start sneering about the nature of bureaucracy — the Social Security Administration has gone a long way toward making itself helpful to beginners.

The "Idiot's Guide" is useful and easy to understand. You can get other good publications from the SSA.

You can, as Epstein advises, hire an expert. "You're making so many decisions that are going to affect the rest of your life," she said. "Even a lot of planners will have a second person take a look at their own plans."