On the Optimality of Deferred Public Annuities

What is the optimal path of Social Security benefits for an individual who has retired with a stock of wealth, faces stochastic mortality, and has no access to annuities and no preferences for bequests? It is a deferred annuity in which the government annuity pays out zero for some periods and a constant amount after that. The optimal length of the deferral period is increasing in the retiree's initial wealth and in their survival probability.