age to draw social security benefits
Age 62 is the minimum age at which anyone can draw Social Security retirement, though we sometimes confuse it with 59-and-a-half, which is the minimum age you may tap into many IRAs and retirement accounts without penalty. The right time to draw Social Security benefits. It may not look much different from your standard piece of junk mail, but the Social Security statement that arrives in your mailbox shortly before your birthday every year is far from junk. If you're below your full retirement age and still working while collecting Social Security, your Social Security benefit for the year will be reduced by $1 for every $2 you earn above $15,720. In the year you reach your full retirement age, the penalty decreases to $1 for every $3 you earn above $41,880. Consider the following hypothetical example. Colleen is 62, with an FRA of 66. If she starts taking benefits at 62, she will receive $1,200 a month. If she waits until her FRA to collect, she will receive 33% more, or $1,600 a month in Social Security. In between 1954 and 1960, the full retirement age 'steps up' by two months for each year. For instance, if you were born in 1955, it's 66 years, 2 months. Age 70: Once you reach age 70, your Social Security benefit no longer increases based on you waiting to collect. The right time to draw Social Security benefits. Jay MacDonald @omnisaurus March 20, 2017 in Retirement. advertisement. It may not look much different from your standard piece of junk mail, but the Social Security statement that arrives in your mailbox shortly before your birthday every year is far from junk. But it can be a costly move. If you start taking Social Security at age 62, rather than waiting until your full retirement age (FRA), you can expect up to a 25% reduction in monthly benefits. Remember FRA is no longer age 65. It now ranges from 66 to 67, depending on the month and year in which you were born. What is the Social Security Retirement Age? Social Security's full-benefit retirement age is increasing gradually because of legislation passed by Congress in 1983. Traditionally, the full benefit age was 65, and early retirement benefits were first available at age 62, with a permanent reduction to 80 percent of the full benefit amount. Currently, the full benefit age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954, and it will gradually rise to 67 for those born in 1960 or later. You can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits as young as age 62, and between age 62 and 70, the longer you wait to start, the higher your benefit will be. Key factors you should consider in your decision include: Calculate the best retirement age to claim your Social Security benefits. En español | Let the Social Security Calculator help you figure out how much retirement income you’ll receive at different claiming ages so you can determine when you should claim Social Security.
Between age 62 and 70.