What Age Social Security Benefits

Is Your Full Retirement Age Affected By Where You Live

Your FRA is not affected by where you live. Most Social Security rules, including those that determine benefit amount and claiming age, are set by federal law. However, some states do tax Social Security benefits, so where you live can affect tax levels on your retirement income. But again, the age at which you claim benefits won’t affect your tax rate — your income is the key factor.

What Happens If You Claim After Your Fra

If you wait until your age 70 to start claiming benefits, then youll get an extra 8% per yearor, in total, 132% of your primary insurance amount for the rest of your life. Claiming after you turn 70 doesnt increase your benefits further, so theres no reason to wait longer than that.

The longer you can afford to wait after age 62 , the larger your monthly benefit will be. Nevertheless, delaying benefits doesnt necessarily mean youll come out ahead overall. Other factors should be considered, including your expected longevity and whether you plan to file for spousal benefits. You should also consider the tax, investment opportunity, and health coverage implications.

What Happens If I Work And Get Social Security Retirement Benefits

You can get Social Security retirement benefits and work at the same time. However, if you are younger than full retirement age and make more than the yearly earnings limit, we will reduce your benefit. Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, we will not reduce your benefits no matter how much you earn.

• We use the following earnings limits to reduce your benefits: If you are under full retirement age for the entire year, we deduct $1 from your benefit payments for every $2 you earn above the annual limit.

For 2022 that limit is $19,560.

• In the year you reach full retirement age, we deduct $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn above a different limit, but we only count earnings before the month you reach your full retirement age.

If you will reach full retirement age in 2022, the limit on your earnings for the months before full retirement age is $51,960.

Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, you can get your benefits with no limit on your earnings.

Use our Retirement Age Calculator to find your full retirement age based on your date of birth.

Use our Retirement Earnings Test Calculator to find out how much your benefits will be reduced.

What counts as earnings:

Your benefits may increase when you work:

When youre ready to apply for retirement benefits, use our online retirement application, the quickest, easiest, and most convenient way to apply.

If you need to report a change in your earnings after you begin receiving benefits:

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Social Security Benefits For Child Of Disabled Parent

The child of a disabled worker can qualify for benefits if they meet the conditions for coverage as a retired workers child. To qualify, the child must be:

• Unmarried and younger than 18, or 19 if still in high school
• Unmarried and age 18 or older if the child has a disability that began before age 22

Collecting Social Security Benefits: When’s The Best Time To Start

Is it better to start taking less money and retire early or wait for full retirement age? Get expert advice on when to start collecting Social Security.

Katie Teague

Writer

Katie is a Writer at CNET, covering all things how-to. When she’s not writing, she enjoys playing in golf scrambles, practicing yoga and spending time on the lake.

If your goal is to retire early, you may be wondering how soon you can start collecting your Social Security benefits. While the choice is mostly up to you, there are several factors to consider while making your decision, including how your benefits are calculated by the Social Security Administration.

There are pros and cons to both retiring early or waiting several more years down the road. The best place to start your decision is by examining your current financial situation, including any other money you’ve saved over the years through your 401, IRA or other retirement investments to determine what’s best for you.

We spoke with an expert and took the Social Security Administration’s advice into consideration to explain how to determine the best time to collect your benefits. If you’re planning to retire soon, note that Social Security payments are expected to increase by 10% in January.

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You Expect Your Investments To Grow Faster Than The Increased Benefit

If you’re the next Warren Buffet, it’s possible you could do better taking Social Security early and investing the money than you could by waiting to take a larger benefit later. When weighing the best decision, consider the inflation rate, the rate your benefits increase and how much you can expect to earn in your portfolio. Given that benefits increase by 8% per year for each year you wait after full retirement age, however, it’s hard to outperform that rate of increase in the market. These safe investments do have high returns.

B You Can Stop Working And Start Receiving Your Retirement Benefits

If you make the decision to stop working and start receiving retirement benefits before your full retirement age, your benefits are reduced a fraction of a percent for each month before your full retirement age. Also, your benefits will not increase because of additional earnings.

We calculate your benefits based on your highest 35 years of earnings, and if you stop working before you have attained 35 years of earnings or you have years with low earnings, this will affect your benefit calculation.

If you delay your benefits until after full retirement age, you will be eligible for delayed retirement credits that would increase your benefit.

If you stop working and start receiving retirement benefits before age 65, you are automatically enrolled in Original Medicare when you turn 65. If you are not receiving your Social Security benefits when you turn 65, you will need to apply for Medicare benefits three months before you turn 65. If you dont sign up for Medicare Part B when youre first eligible, you may have to pay a late enrollment penalty for as long as you have Medicare coverage.

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You Already Have Your 35 Highest

Your Social Security benefits are based on your earnings in the 35 years that you had the most compensation. If you’re in your peak earning years, you could boost your benefits if you keep working a few more years and delaying your benefits. However, if you aren’t going to increase your average earnings, such as if you’re only working part-time or you’ve had to retire early, you won’t miss out on the chance to boost your benefits with higher earning years. However, you’ll still receive a smaller benefit for not waiting until full retirement age.

How We Deduct Earnings From Benefits

In 2022, if youre under full retirement age, the annual earnings limit is $19,560. If you will reach full retirement age in 2022, the limit on your earnings for the months before full retirement age is $51,960.

Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, there is no limit on how much you can earn and still receive your benefits.

Let’s look at a few examples. You are receiving Social Security retirement benefits every month in 2022 and you:

• Are under full retirement age all year. You are entitled to $800 a month in benefits.

  You work and earn $29,560 during the year. Your Social Security benefits would be reduced by $5,000 . You would receive $4,600 of your $9,600 in benefits for the year.

• Reach full retirement age in August 2022. You are entitled to $800 per month in benefits.

  You work and earn $63,000 during the year, with $52,638 of it in the 7 months from January through July.

• Your Social Security benefits would be reduced through July by $226 . You would still receive $5,374 out of your $5,600 benefits for the first 7 months.
• Beginning in August 2022, when you reach full retirement age, you would receive your full benefit , no matter how much you earn.

If you are eligible for retirement benefits this year and are still working, you can use our earnings test calculator to see how your earnings could affect your benefit payments.

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Claiming Social Security At Age 62

At age 62, the earliest point at which most people can claim benefits, youll receive around 70 percent of the amount that you would receive at your Full Retirement Age. If you were born in 1958, and your full benefit at retirement would be $1,000 a month, you would shrink your benefit to around $700 a month by retiring at age 62. Under most circumstances, once you claim your benefit, it stays at that amount for the rest of your life. Consequently, by retiring early you could lose out on $300 a month every month for the rest of your life.

After you turn 62, the amount of your Social Security benefit rises by about a half a percentage point each month. So, at age 63 you would receive about 77 percent of your benefit

If you work after claiming your benefit, one of two things can happen:

• If you earn less than the earnings limit, which for 2020 is $18,240, then your benefits will not be affected.
• If you earn more than the earnings limit, Social Security will deduct $1 for each $2 you earn over the limit. Social Security will, after full retirement, adjust your benefit to reflect this deduction so the money will eventually be restored to you.

How Much Can I Earn If I Work After My Full Retirement Age

If you continue to work after reaching full retirement age, you may work and earn as much as you’d like. You will not be subject to the retirement earnings test, and your Social Security benefits will not be affected.

If you work prior to FRA, you may forfeit part of your benefits if you earn above annual thresholds. However, your benefit amount will be recalculated at full retirement age to account for most of those forfeited funds.

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How Social Security Works

Social Security is meant to supplement your retirement income and ease financial concerns as you get older. Its essentially a support system for Americas elderly, enabled by the 1935 Social Security Act. Most beneficiaries are retirees and their families. However, disabled individuals and survivors of workers who have died are also eligible to collect Social Security benefits.

Workers make Social Security contributions each month, which appear on your paycheck as Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes. Upon retirement, you can begin to receive Social Security payments, which will continue throughout the rest of your life. How much you receive each month, however, depends on when you elect to begin taking benefits and whether youve reached full retirement age at that point.

Full retirement age is the age at which you become eligible to start receiving full retirement benefits. It was 65 for many years, but the Social Security Administration amended that rule in 1983 because of increases in average life expectancy. Now, depending on the year you were born, you reach full retirement age sometime between 65 and 67. Full retirement age rises gradually from 1938 onward. Anyone born after 1960 reaches full retirement at 67. The Social Security Administration table below breaks down full retirement benefits for different age groups:

You Want To Start A Business

Some people think of retirement as a time to relax, but you might see it as an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before, such as starting your own business. For example, you might have put off starting a business before because you were afraid you wouldn’t be generating enough income. Social Security benefits could provide enough income to let you launch your business. And if your business is successful, the income it generates could be more than enough to offset the future reduction in benefits.

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Bridge To Medicare At Age 65

Remember that while you are eligible for reduced Social Security benefits at 62, you won’t be eligible for Medicare until age 65, so you will probably have to pay for private health insurance in the meantime. That can eat up a large chunk of your Social Security payments.

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How Do You Qualify For Social Security Benefits

You qualify for Social Security old age benefits by paying into the program during your working years. Full insurance is based on accumulating 40 quarters or “credits” from covered wages, and a worker can earn up to four credits a year. One credit is awarded for every $1,470 in earnings for 2021 , an amount that is adjusted annually to keep up with inflation.

A payroll tax cap sets the maximum amount of earned income that is subject to the Social Security payroll tax. The payroll tax cap in 2021 is $142,800 .

The SSA keeps track of your earnings throughout your career, indexes each year’s total earnings, and uses the 35 highest-earning years to determine your average indexed monthly earnings . Next, your AIME is used to arrive at your primary insurance amount , the monthly amount you can begin to collect when you reach full retirement age.

For individuals born in 1938 or later, the full retirement age gradually increases from 65 until it hits 67 for those born after 1959. You can collect Social Security retirement benefits at age 62, but the amount of the benefit will be reduced to compensate for receiving it earlier and, presumably, for a longer period of time.

If you wait until you’re 70 instead of 62 to collect benefits, you’ll get an extra 8% a year, which means you’ll collect 132% of your PIA for the rest of your life. Once you reach age 70 the increases stop.

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D You Can Stop Working And Not Begin Receiving Your Retirement Benefits

We calculate your benefits based on your highest 35 years of earnings. If you stop working before you have 35 years of earnings, or you have low earnings for some years, this will affect your benefit calculation. However, if you wait to start benefits after you reach full retirement age, your benefits will increase for each month you do not receive them until you reach age 70. There is no incentive to delay filing for your benefits after age 70.

If you are not receiving your Social Security benefits when you turn 65, you will need to apply for Original Medicare three months before you turn 65. If you dont sign up for Medicare Part B when youre first eligible at age 65, you may have to pay a late enrollment penalty for as long as you have Medicare coverage.

You Have A Shorter Life Expectancy

The government incentivizes waiting to collect your Social Security benefits by giving you a larger monthly amount the longer you delay. For example, if you start collecting benefits at age 62 when your full retirement age is 66, your monthly benefit will be about 75% of your full-age benefit. So if you expected your monthly benefit to be $1,000 per month at 66, you would only receive around $750 at 62.

Although a larger monthly benefit might sound great, keep in mind that you’d have to wait four years to get that extra $250 per month. You would receive $36,000 during those four years at the reduced amount of $750 per month.

When you start collecting $1,000 at age 66, that extra $250 per month won’t let you break even for 12 years compared to collecting early. If your health is declining and you don’t expect to live until you’re 78, you’ll receive more in benefits during your lifetime if you start claiming as soon as possible.

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What’s Full Retirement Age

Full retirement age is when you’re eligible to receive full Social Security benefits. Your full retirement age depends on your birth year: For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67. For those born in 1955 through to the end of 1959 , full retirement age ranges between 66 and 2 months and 66 and 10 months. If you were born before 1955, you’ve already reached age 66 and full retirement age.

You Need To Pay Down Debt

There are some debts you need to tackle before you retire. If you have high-interest debt, claiming Social Security early can help you pay the debt down. Depending on the interest rate you’re paying, the 8% yearly boost to your benefits that you receive for each year you wait past full retirement age might not be worth the increased monthly benefit. Using the early benefits to reduce or eliminate your debt earlier could mean you’ll be able to keep more of your benefits in the future.

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When Can I Start Collecting Social Security

The minimum age to claim benefits is 62. If you are turning 62 and need the income from Social Security to support yourself, then you can start claiming your benefits now. However, if you have enough other income to keep you going until you are older, you may want to delay increasing the size of your monthly benefit.