The Wall Street Journal ran a blog post that outlined Michael Kitces’ argument for delaying Social Security which can be summed up by saying it should be thought of it as an asset in a portfolio so by waiting, the value of your asset grows. He also says that Social Security “’uniquely capable of hedging many risks in retirement that traditional portfolios cannot’—and he says it argues for ‘delaying benefits as long as possible.’”
The comments on the article, 32 at last look, were also interesting and offered several different perspectives. This is one of many things where there is no single right answer for everyone.
Arguments for taking it early include getting it now while you can before it becomes insolvent before benefits are somehow reduced as well as how long it would take to come out ahead by waiting (hint: it takes a while).
One of the reader comments made a very compelling point in favor of taking it early which was that portfolio growth is likely to exceed the COLA growth of Social Security. So by taking Social Security early you are presumably taking less from your portfolio thus giving more of the portfolio the opportunity to grow.