"...The goal of retirees should be to collect the largest possible "present value" of payments. That's not simply the value of projected future payments added together. It's the value of these payments, with each one reduced by a "discount rate," or a theoretical return that the recipient misses out on by not having the money today.
A new working paper offers guidance on how to maximize this present value of benefits, depending on the circumstance. The authors, economists John Shoven at Stanford University and Sita Nataraj Slavov at Occidental College, received a grant from the Social Security Administration for their research, but say their opinions are their own..."
