When should you start collecting Social Security to access your government-allotted income distributions? While a retiree can start receiving payments at age 62, they won’t get the full benefits at this age.
To claim the full benefits, a retiree should sign up for Social Security at the full retirement age, which is 65 for those born in 1937 or earlier and 66 for those born between 1943 and 1954, CNBC reports.
The full retirement age increases in two-month increments for each year to 66 and 10 months among those born in 1959, or up from 66 and eight months for those with a birth year of 1958.
Lastly, full retirement age for those turning 62 in 2022 (having been born in 1960) will be 67, and the full retirement age will remain at 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later.
While retirees are eligible for Social Security starting at age 62, there will be a penalty reduction for those claiming early Social Security benefits, and the reductions are bigger for those with an older retirement age.
“You get less if you start early or more if you delay until later,” Andy Landis, author of “Social Security: The Inside Story”, told CNBC. “Every month you delay Social Security up to age 70 gets you a higher monthly payment for life.”
Specifically, Americans born in 1960 will see monthly payments cut by 30% if they sign up for Social Security benefits at 62, followed by up to a 29.17% reduction for those born in 1959 and a 25% drop for those born in 1954. For a worker eligible for a $1,000 monthly Social Security at their full retirement age, claiming benefits at age 62 would diminish monthly payments to $750 if the retiree’s birth year is 1954 and $700 if they were born in 1960.
“Relative to an earlier full retirement age, a later full retirement age means that the person gets less money per month regardless of when they file,” Mike Piper, a certified public accountant and author of “Social Security Made Simple,” told CNBC.
For more news, information, and strategy, visit the Retirement Income Channel.
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