Is it better to take Social Security at 62 or 67? Why it's worth waiting if you can. (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to take Social Security at 62 or 67? Why it's worth waiting if you can.? ›

If you start taking Social Security at age 62, rather than waiting until your full retirement age (FRA), you can expect a 30% reduction in monthly benefits with lesser reductions as you approach FRA. Remember, FRA is no longer age 65: It's 67.

The earliest age at which most people can take Social Security retirement benefits is typically 62, but those payments are normally reduced because people usually aren't entitled to 100% of their benefits until 67. People who wait until 70 to retire can receive 124% of their benefits.

1. You're Planning Your End-of-Life Care. Your Social Security benefits stop paying at your death, so if you die before collecting benefits, you'll have missed out on benefits entirely. You need to figure out how to maximize your Social Security income instead.

You can receive Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, we'll reduce your benefit if you start receiving benefits before your full retirement age. For example, if you turn age 62 in 2024, your benefit would be about 30% lower than it would be at your full retirement age of 67.

You can start receiving your Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, you are entitled to full benefits when you reach your full retirement age. If you delay taking your benefits from your full retirement age up to age 70, your benefit amount will increase.

At around age 78 and 8 months, you reach the break-even point, when your cumulative benefits from claiming at 67 surpass those you'd get by taking retirement at 62.

Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.

There is no age at which you will no longer be taxed on Social Security payments. So, if those payments when combined with your other forms of income, exceed one of the two thresholds, then you will have to pay at least federal taxes on either 50% or 85% of the benefits you receive.

According to recently released data from the SSA's Office of the Actuary, just over 590,000 retired-worker beneficiaries were receiving $1,298.26 per month at age 62, as of December 2023. That compares to about 2.11 million aged 66 retired-worker beneficiaries who were taking home $1,739.92 per month.

Is it smarter to take Social Security at 62? ›

The way Social Security is set up, the longer you wait to collect retirement benefits, the higher your monthly payment. Claiming benefits at age 62 means you will get the smallest possible check. Your check rises yearly past age 62 if you wait to collect.

A worker can choose to retire as early as age 62, but doing so may result in a reduction of as much as 30 percent. Starting to receive benefits after normal retirement age may result in larger benefits. With delayed retirement credits, a person can receive his or her largest benefit by retiring at age 70.

• If you become disabled before your full retirement age, you might qualify for Social Security disability benefits. You must have worked and paid Social Security taxes in five of the last 10 years.

You may request that your benefit begin in August with the first payment in September. By requesting that your benefit begin in your birthday month, you will receive the maximum possible monthly payment for the rest of your life.

When the Social Security Administration boils all those figures down, the weighted average age of all newly retired workers filing for benefits was about 65 years in 2022. In 2022, the average was 65.1 years for men, while for women it was about 65.0 years.

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 benefits. Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, we will not reduce your benefits no matter how much you earn.

You can start collecting Social Security retirement benefits at age 62. Each year you delay increases your benefit by 5% to 8%. Social Security benefits max out at age 70.