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Your Age When You Claim Social Security Sets Your Benefit Amount - Crossroads Today
Pretty much everyone knows that they can start collecting Social Security benefits at age 62, and reality is that most people actually do claim at that age. But by doing so, they (often unwittingly) take a significant cut in their monthly benefit amount for the rest of their life. You actually have an eight year window during which you can claim your Social Security and your age when you claim will make a big difference in how much you get. Three ages which you might want to compare are your benefit amount at age 62, at your full retirement age (between 66 and 67 depending on the year you were born), and age 70. Here’s what you’ll find:
- Your benefit at age 62 will be between 25% and 30% less than your benefit at your full retirement age (FRA)
- Your benefit at age 70 would be between 24% and 32% more than your FRA benefit amount.
- Your benefit at age 70 would be about 75% more than your age 62 benefit amount.
These are significant differences which you need to be aware of, but be aware too than waiting longer to claim isn’t right for everyone, as discussed in this Crossroads Today article by Katie Brockman. Click here to read more.