What is the full retirement age for Social Security to kick in?
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Key takeaways
The earliest retirement age for Social Security is 62.
Full retirement ages from the Social Security Administration are based on your year of birth and vary from 66 to 67 years old.
Retirement can be based on a number of factors, including Social Security benefits, required minimum distributions from an IRA, as well as personal circumstances.
If you’re ready to retire and start collecting Social Security, it’s important to inform yourself about what’s considered the full retirement age for Social Security to take effect.
Contrary to what some people think, the full retirement age can be different for every individual, based on when they were born.
While you can retire as early as age 62 or delay collecting benefits beyond your full retirement age, either situation will affect how much you collect in benefits.
Here’s a thorough guide to determining your full retirement age and how collecting benefits before or after that age will affect you.
How to determine your full retirement age
For the purposes of collecting Social Security, your retirement age is considered the age you begin to receive Social Security retirement benefits.¹
This may not be the same as the age you actually stop working.
hat are the different ages for retirement with Social Security? The full retirement age is between the ages of 66-67, but differs depending on your birth year.
Here’s a list of full retirement ages based on year of birth provided by the Social Security Administration:²
- 1943-1954: 66
- 1955: 66 and 2 months
- 1956: 66 and 4 months
- 1957: 66 and 6 months
- 1958: 66 and 8 months
- 1959: 66 and 10 months
- 1960 and later: 67
If you were born on January 1 of any year, refer to the previous year for your full Social Security age for retirement.
Can I retire before full retirement age?
Yes, you can retire before the full retirement age. You can receive Social Security benefits as early as age 62 so long as you’ve contributed to Social Security for at least 10 years, but you won’t collect as much as if you were to retire at your full retirement age.
The Social Security Administration bases your retirement benefit amount on your highest 35 years of earnings and the age you start receiving benefits.
If you have 35 years of earnings, but some earnings were lower than others, that will lower your benefit amount even more, so keep that in mind when planning for what your fixed income during retirement will be.
What’s more, if you retire at age 62, and you are the wage earner (rather than your spouse) your retirement benefit is reduced to 70% of what it would be at full retirement age. If you were to retire at age 65, meanwhile, that bumps up to 86.7%. The SSA provides a helpful guide, “How Your Social Security Benefit Is Reduced,”³ to help you understand exactly what percentage your benefit would be reduced on a month-by-month basis for ages 62-67.
Aside from being able to collect benefits and stop working earlier, collecting benefits before full retirement age also may benefit you by allowing you to collect for longer than you otherwise would.
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Can I delay collecting benefits beyond full retirement age?
Yes, you can delay collecting benefits until beyond your full retirement age.
The upside of doing so is that you can potentially offset years with lower earnings or no earnings and increase your average earning amount, therefore also increasing your Social Security payout. Your benefits will also grow by a certain percentage for each month you delay claiming them after you reach your full retirement age.
The benefit increase, however, stops when you reach age 70, meaning that you can potentially maximize your retirement amount by waiting until age 70 to retire.
Here’s the 12-month rate of increase depending on your birth year (meaning that for every year you delay retirement beyond your full retirement age, your benefit will increase by that amount):
- 1933-1934: 5.5%
- 1935-1936: 6.0%
- 1937-1938: 6.5%
- 1939-1940: 7.0%
- 1941-1942: 7.5%
- 1943 or later: 8.0%
The SSA also offers a monthly rate of increase information for even more accurate data.⁴
Keep in mind, as the SSA notes, “If you decide to delay your benefits until after age 65, you should still apply for Medicare benefits within 3 months of your 65th birthday. If you wait longer, your Medicare medical insurance (Part B) and prescription drug coverage (Part D) may cost you more money.”
How to decide when to retire
Deciding when to retire is both a deeply personal decision and a deeply impactful one.
The percentage of your average wages that Social Security retirement benefits replace depends on your income level and when you begin receiving benefits. If you start benefits at age 67, the replacement rate can range from as high as 78% for low earners, around 42% for middle earners, and approximately 28% for high earners. Starting benefits before age 67, meanwhile, reduces these percentages.⁵
It's best to speak with an advisor from the Social Security Administration to discuss a retirement plan. You can apply for Social Security benefits up to 4 months before you want those benefits to start.
Keep in mind also that even though your bank balance doesn’t directly affect your Social Security benefits, if you have other retirement accounts, specifically Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA), you may be required to distribute a certain amount (called a required minimum distribution) starting at age 73, meaning that if you were to wait until that age to collect Social Security, you may still have to start drawing down your IRA or face tax penalties.
Conclusion
Deciding when to claim Social Security is a key part of your retirement plan. The age you stop working affects how much money you get each month.
This important age, also known as your full retirement age, varies depending on when you were born. While you can collect benefits as early as age 62, your payments will be reduced by as much as 30%. Waiting until after your full retirement age to stop working, meanwhile, could increase your benefits, with the maximum benefit reached at age 70.
The best time to claim benefits depends on your personal finances and goals, and a Social Security advisor can help you make the right choice for your situation.
If you have more questions about retirement unrelated to Social Security, we invite you to head over to our retirement guides to stay informed about everything you need to know about retiring
Social Security can be an important supplement during retirement, but for most retirees, it’s not enough on its own, especially if you’re planning to retire early. Learn why it’s also important to factor a savings account into your retirement strategy.
The above article is intended to provide generalized financial information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized tax, investment, legal, or other business and professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always seek the assistance of a professional who knows your particular situation for advice on taxes, your investments, the law, or any other business and professional matters that affect you and/or your business.
¹https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/stopwork.html
²https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10035.pdf
³https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/1960.html
⁴https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/delayret.html
⁵https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html
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