Latest News
Social Security’s Full Retirement Age Stops Increasing This Year - USA Today
Your full retirement age, or “FRA,” is a factor which strongly influences how much your monthly Social Security benefit will be. Although the benefit amount you get by claiming exactly at your FRA is based on your lifetime record of earnings, claiming any earlier will mean a smaller monthly payment and claiming later than your FRA will mean a bigger one. Your actual benefit is reduced by a fraction of a percent for each month before FRA you claim, or increased by a fraction of a percent for each month you wait past your FRA to claim - when you claim relative to your FRA determines how much your benefit will be. Your FRA depends on the year you were born, but here’s the rub: the higher your FRA, the more months an early retirement penalty can be assessed, and the fewer months you can earn delayed retirement credits by waiting beyond FRA to claim.
Due to legislation passed in 1983, the full retirement age has been steadily increasing over the years from its original age 65 to age 67. The change started affecting beneficiaries who first became eligible for SS at age 62 in 2000 and has continued, steadily increasing the FRA in stages based on year of birth. The good news is that stops this year with those who first become eligible for benefits in 2022. Those who will become 62 this year (who were born in 1960) will have a full retirement age of 67, and the FRA will stop increasing from this point forward - unless Congress changes the rules in the future. All of this is discussed in this USA Today article by Motley Fool’s Christy Bieber. Click here to read more.
This posting is presented for informational purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. Any opinions or interpretations presented are either those of the original author or, in the case of articles authored by the AMAC Foundation, are the opinions of AMAC Foundation staff, originally trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA) and certified via the AMAC Foundation. Any links included in the article are valid on the posted date; socialsecurityreport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the links’ validity. NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity. To submit a question, visit our website (https://amacfoundation.org/services/) or email us at ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org. Because we are a non-profit organization, there is no charge for these services.