age you can start drawing social security
However, the age to get full Social Security retirement benefits (called. your “Full Retirement Age”) has changed for some people. It now depends on the. year you were born, and some people don’t get full retirement benefits until age 67. To find out when you will reach your full retirement age and how that affects your. Social Security retirement benefits, visit www.socialsecurity.gov on the web. You. can also call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213. If you aren’t eligible for full Social Security retirement benefits at age 65, and you. aren’t getting Social Security benefits, you can still get your full Medicare benefits. (including premium-free Part A) at age 65, but you must contact Social Security to. sign up. If you will reach full retirement age in 2016, the limit on your earnings for the months before full retirement age is $41,880. Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, you can get your benefits with no limit on your earnings. “Despite these realities, most folks — including many African Americans — take Social Security as soon as they can, at age 62,” she says. “That’s a mistake since you could wind up living for two or three decades more and, if so, you want your Social Security benefits to be as large as possible.”. If you live till 65, you are likely to live another 18 to 20 years, depending on your sex. If you take Social Security before full retirement age, you lock in a 25 percent reduction for the rest of your life. If you wait till you are 70, you can get an additional 32 percent boost in monthly benefits (or roughly 8 percent for each year you wait). When it comes to Social Security, it can be tempting to take the money and run as soon as you're eligible—typically at age 62. After all, you've likely been paying into the system for much of your working life, and you're ready to receive your benefits. 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. For 2016 that limit is $15,720. 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. But it can be a costly move. If you start taking Social Security at 62, rather than waiting until your full retirement age (FRA), you will receive reduced benefits. FRA ranges from 65 to 67, depending on the year in which you were born. (See your full retirement age.) And your annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is based on your benefit. In fact, most Americans don’t wait that long. According to the Social Security Administration, 37 percent of people take benefits at 62, as soon as they are eligible. Another 18 percent take benefits at full retirement age (66 for most baby boomers), and only 3 percent waited until 70.
At 62