I'll be 65 soon, and have not applied, and won't until 66. I am self employed, and get paid by commission. If I earn over 15,900 from age 62-66,and am considered to be in a suspicious line of work, like a realtor that earns Income by commission, the Feds would come back and reduce what they give me dollar for dollar me anyway. They have people that check up on self employed people just to see if they are really retired. So I said screw the Government. I don't want to be followed around, and they won't at age 66. However, I will still continue to work after 66 years of age, as I have to stay busy. A good friend worked at a large hospital for 35 years as the lead engineer for maintenance. He retired at 62. now three years later he seems weakly, and babysits grand kids all day, every day. Not for me!