Drawing Social Security early or not?

[OKDart]

I ask myself this: what do I need extra money for in my 80’s?
I plan on taking it at 62 regardless if I need it or not.
I doubt I’ll still be traveling the world in my 80’s, or buying muscle cars.

If I would’ve had my head on straight early on, I would’ve done this:

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/

...just to be financially independent. I would probably still work in my younger years, but it’d be what I want and when I want.

 

[YY1]

I agree with a LOT of that, but not all.

About age 28, I found that all I really needed to live a decent lifestyle and still have a decent amount left over for saving, emergencies and occasional going out, was $30,000 a year. That included a house payment and a car payment on a 3 year old Dakota.

This has only increased about 5K in 22 years.

I have a fairly accurate (OK, extremely accurate) budget and know where nearly every dollar goes.

This is not to say I'm a cheapskate and can't afford luxuries or one time large expenditures, it just means that instead of paying $200 for the latest cell phone with the highest speed, I pay $35 and have never gone over my minutes, without even trying.
It means we don't buy groceries we can't eat before they go bad, and it certainly means I don't buy $7 coffee's although I do enjoy my $8 a (big) can Chock Full o' Nuts spiked with a little Cafe Bustello.

On the contrary, I find I can usually pay cash for those "one time" luxuries, and not take too much of a hit to my savings.

I do a lot of "outside the box" thinking and planning as well.
If the choice is between paying a roll back driver or buying a car dolly- now I basically own a tow truck.
Paying for a tire mount and balance (every time) or buying my own tire machine and balancer- I'm about to break even on that last purchase and then it's all profit.
Paying $900 a year to store my project car or paying $850 a month (after down payment) to own the facility and then clearing $250 each month after everything is paid.....