In your scenario, you'd only owe taxes on $1, 15 cents, not the entire $40k
And if you die early, you'll be able to help Uncle Sam..............

The real answer to your question depends on if you have any other income other than Social Security. If you have other income, such as a pension, spouse income, IRA or 401k, and don't need the SS income then you can delay it until age 70 in order to get the maximum benefit.

You and I are on the same page!!

I retired right before I was 53 and started collecting my social security at 62. I’ll be 67 in March 2023 and have no regrets. I had 33 years of millwright work in a steel mill and really wanted to go a few more years but no one wanted to work anymore so no regrets there either.

I’m talking about the capital gains. If a single person earns under 40,000 and sells appreciated assets their capital gains tax rate on the sales is 0. Over $40,000 income it’s 15% though at some point maybe $250,000 it is even higher. That doesn’t mean their income tax is 0, it means their taxes on capital gains is 0.
Ordinary income tax rates and capital gains tax rates are two different things. From what I can tell I could have $1M in capital gains from selling stocks and if I had under $40,000 in income, be it from working, dividends, 401K distributions, social security etc, I’d owe no capital capital gains, at least to the IRS. States taxes on it might vary.
Under $40,000 income is the magic number for those under 65 getting cheap Obama care insurance too I believe.

Don't think that's correct

Current tax law does not allow you to take a capital gains tax break based on age. Once, the IRS allowed people over the age of 55 a tax exemption for home sales. However, this exclusion was closed in 1997

Unlike ordinary income, which is money that you earn through work or by selling the product of your work, capital gains are subject to their own set of taxes. (Ordinary income is taxed at income tax rates.) In 2022, capital gains are taxed at the following brackets:

0%: $0 – $40,000 Single / $0 – $80,000 Married
15%: $40,401 – $445,850 Single / $80,801 – $501,600 Married
20%: $445,851+ Single / $501,601+ Married

https://smartasset.com/taxes/capital-gains-exemption-for-seniors

I was self employed, my wife had a State job that had great health insurance. Her insurance covered me. We were 100% debt free and had some other retirement savings set aside. My wife has a few health issues, I'm pretty healthy. She is about a year and 9 months older then I am.

My wife reached being fully vested (15 years of service) in the State's retirement fund when she was 63, the next step up in retirement funding would have required she worked another 5 years. Her state pension covered the insurance for both of us until we each reached the Medicare age of 65, then her insurance automatically cut back to a supplement level (which wasn't very good). Her work pension still covers the Medicare costs, the advantage plans for both of us, and both of our prescription deductibles and co=pay costs. Once she reached that fully vested retirement from the state, she was ready to retire.

The last few years before I retired (2018) my business was slowing down, our little town had taken a beating from the recession of 2008 and never fully recovered. Once I took the shop expenses out of my gross income, the age 63 SS check was about the same size. That was about the same time the government was changing the deductions a small shop could take. The "Why am I working?" light started flashing. About that time I experienced a couple bouts of occupation related minor health scares that I took as warning signs.

I also did the math. The break even point on retiring early, or waiting until full retirement for me was 19 years, age 81. Most of the men in my family didn't make it that far. Then if we add in the concept they are telling us the SS system will go broke before I reach 82, my decision was pretty easy. I was collecting the SS check when covid hit. I sure was happy to see that deposit in my checking account every month. I doubt I would have made it through that mess without that SS check.

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I would not take any money advice from Mastershake340. I'm pretty sure he has no understanding of even the most basic tax rules or obligations.

I have heard that if you are receiving the social security retirement pension and are under 70, you are limited on how much other income you can make. Is that true? One of my favorite activities is making money, and I don't want anyone trying to stop me or slow it down. I'm 63 and haven't seriously looked into SS. At the present, I'm happy with my business and my income. If i could start getting the SS $ now, but still be able to earn, maybe I'd take it.

How Much Can You Earn While Receiving Social Security?

If you opt to work while receiving Social Security before your full retirement age, you will only be able to receive a certain level of income before your Social Security benefit is temporarily reduced. The Social Security earnings limit is $1,630 per month or $19,560 per year in 2022 for someone who has not reached full retirement age. If you earn more than this amount, you can expect to have $1 withheld from your Social Security benefit for every $2 earned above the limit.

For example, suppose you are 65 years old, receive $2,500 in Social Security benefits every month and have a job that pays $2,000 a month. You are over the income limit of $1,630 by $370 each month. During a year, you will receive $24,000 from the job, which is $4,440 more than the annual earnings threshold of $19,560. As a result, $1 out of every $2 above the threshold will be withheld. In this case, $185 will be withheld every month from your Social Security checks. You can expect to receive $2,315 each month from Social Security. When you turn your full retirement age, your payments will be recalculated to give you credit for the withheld portion of your benefit.

I was going to wait till 62 like ole grand dad but I don't think I can and FULLY understand fully why he left early.
I'll be 59 1/2 in 2 years and that's looking good to me at this point. My wife's disabled and is collecting SSA and has her own insurance. We have no debt.

I had 2 great-grandmothers on my dad's side that lived to be 100. The got around ok but usually slept 16 hours a day!

I also was forced into retirement a month short of my 66th birthday in 2020 before that I wasn't even thinking about retirement. I didn't know you could work and collect SS so I signed up and got my first check shortly before I was let go , because of when I signed up so close to my 66th birthday I wouldn't be penalized. a fellow racer actually told me about it as he is close in age. It turned out to be the best thing as I worked for ungrateful, clueless idiots who still over two years later haven't found a replacement for me , I think its great ! I now work part time for a landscaping/ excavating contractor who calls me when he needs me sometimes only a few hours a week sometimes more and I enjoy it. My biggest concern is that in a few years I have to start withdrawing from an annuity I have from a previous job and the tax consequences involved.

My tax advice if you are able to comprehend my original posting, was to work with a good financial planner and or tax advisor.
I admitted that I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about finances but after starting to work with a good financial planner I’m learning things especially tax related that I knew little to nothing about.
The fact I can sell off stocks and mutual funds I’ve owned outside of retirement accounts, in one case a mutual fund I’ve bought in college 40 years ago and is now worth in the 6 figures, and owe no federal income taxes on it if my ordinary income is under $40,000 is one thing I have found. And that has nothing to do with age, I have no idea where anyone got the idea I was claiming that was retirement related, age 35 or age 65 you owe no capital gains on selling appreciated assets if your income is under 40,000 for singles or 80,000 for a couple.
Everybody’s situation is different so getting advice from a bunch of people yapping on an internet site is not a prudent strategy. In my situation I have a lot of appreciated assets outside of retirement accounts, thus lots of capital gains, most people have most of their savings in 401Ks or IRAs which are different because withdrawals from them are ordinary income not capital gains. There’s no one size fits all so that is where these planners earn their fees, analyzing each clients situation and coming up with a plan.
So again, work with a planner or good tax advisor instead of asking know it alls on the internet or brother in laws or coworkers or the like.

The government wants you to die before you collect. Collect when you can.

This

How many people today actually have a pension

401K , don’t get me started over the last year

And most have never heard of Rule 55 in regards to 401K

Also how does your home factor into retirement ?

Say you own a half million dollar home in northern WI , it’s paid for , and you have no kids to leave it to - My wife

Your cars

I have a lot to figure out sooner then later and haven’t even hit 60 yet

I can’t and won’t stay at my current job of 36 years much longer - I could see a few more years at best

Under this scenario; if someone had $ 20K in salary income for 2022, if they had bought a residential lot in Aspen in 1960 for $ 15K, sold it today in 2022 for $ 20,000,000 (capital gain) they would owe no tax? I think not.

Same with selling a 1971 Hemi-Cuda Vert.

I do agree with hire an expert, maybe a team.

I agree with the ones that basically say life expectancy is a big factor, and unknown. I plan to take mine at 62. Not only because you just don't know how long you'll live, but the dollar will be worth less later and it's very difficult to factor in inflation taking it later.

I would like to see the figures on how many pass at 65-70-75. I have quite a few friends that didn’t make 65 let alone 75, all that money put in and none taken out, and these are boomers, the ones who really filled up the cooky jars but it’s going broke?!

There is no cookie jar, there never has been. You were paying out the retirement benefits of the people who were retired while you were paying in. The excess, if any, got spent. Now you get to live on what the workers of today are putting in. Its a pyramid scheme, at best.

You would have been better off if that money got put into an investment account.