When to Claim Social Security

The short answer: you can start Social Security at 62, but the amount is permanently reduced — and waiting past your full retirement age increases it, up to age 70. For most married couples the decision that matters most is not the one about your own cheque. It is what happens to the survivor when one of you dies, and that is the part that usually gets left out of the conversation.

The three ages

62 — the earliest you can claim retirement benefits. Claiming here gives you the smallest monthly amount, permanently.

Your full retirement age — 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, and somewhere between 66 and 67 for people born in the few years before that. This is the age at which you receive the benefit your earnings record actually entitles you to, with no reduction and no bonus.

70 — the last age worth waiting for. Between your full retirement age and 70 the benefit grows by 8% a year in delayed retirement credits. After 70 it stops growing, so there is no reason at all to wait longer.

The exact figures for your own record are on your Social Security statement at ssa.gov, and it is worth pulling that up before making any decision — the numbers people carry in their heads are frequently a decade out of date.

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If you've seen someone telling you that filing for Social Security at 62 is dumb, or that waiting until 70 is always a smart move, please stop listening to them. That advice is not just oversimplified. In some situations, it's just flat out wrong. Here's the reality.

The right age to file for Social Security is completely personal. There is no universal answer. Anyone giving you a blanket rule without knowing your situation is doing you a disservice. Think about it.

The decision is going to depend on a lot of factors. Do you need the income now? What's your health situation? Are you still working?

Do you have a spouse who might need to draw off your record? Do you have children under 18 still at home? What other income sources do you have in retirement? What tax bracket are you in?

See all of those things matter. Change one of them and the answer might change your answer completely. What we do know is this. Filing at 62 means a permanent reduction in your benefits.

It's going to be roughly 30% less than your full retirement age. Waiting until 70 means an increase of about 8% for every year you delay past your full retirement age. So the math is real, but the math alone doesn't tell the whole story. If someone's handing you a one size fits all answer on your social security, please get a second opinion.

This decision is way too important to leave to a blanket rule. Be sure to like and follow. I break this stuff down every week so you can make the right call for your unique situation, not someone else's. Hope this was helpful.

See you in the next one.

Early is not cheaper, it is smaller

The most common misunderstanding is that claiming early is a way of getting your money sooner, and that it evens out later. It does not even out. The reduction is permanent — it applies to every payment for the rest of your life, and it carries into the annual cost-of-living increases, because those are applied to a smaller base.

That does not make claiming early wrong. It is often exactly right — if you need the income now, if your health makes a long life unlikely, or if claiming lets you avoid draining savings during a bad market year. Those are good reasons. “I want to get mine before it runs out” is a worse one, and it is the reason people most often give.

If you claim early and keep working

There is a rule that surprises people every year. If you claim before your full retirement age and are still earning above an annual limit, Social Security withholds part of your benefit — a portion of every dollar you earn above that threshold.

Two things soften it. The limit is much higher in the year you actually reach full retirement age, and it disappears entirely once you get there. And the withheld money is not confiscated — your benefit is recalculated upward at full retirement age to account for what was held back.

Still, claiming at 62 while working a substantial job often means locking in a permanent reduction in exchange for payments you do not fully receive. The current earnings limit is published on ssa.gov and changes annually, so check the figure for the year in question rather than a remembered one.

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Here's a topic that catches a lot of retirees completely off guard. If you file for Social Security before your full retirement age and you're still working, there is an earnings limit. And if you go over that limit, Social Security will start withholding your benefits. Now, most people unfortunately find this out the hard way.

So here's how it works in 2026. If you're under your full retirement age and receiving Social Security, you can earn up to $24,480 for the year. For every $2 you earn over that limit, Social Security withholds $1 in benefits. So if you file at $62, think you're collecting your check and then pick up part-time work or go back to a job?

Depending on what you earn, you could have checks withheld entirely or end up with an overpayment to pay back. Now that's not a conversation anybody wants to have with Social Security. But here's the part that makes this less scary than it sounds. That money that gets withheld isn't gone forever.

Once you hit your full retirement age, Social Security recalculates your benefit upward to the amount for the much you didn't receive payments. So you do get credit for it just later. And once you reach your full retirement age, the earnings limit totally disappears. So you can earn as much as you want with zero effect on your benefit.

But between 62 and full retirement age, that $24,480 limit is real and it matters. So before you file early, make sure you understand exactly how this works for your situation. The last thing you want is a surprise letter telling you to pay benefits back. For additional free, helpful resources, be sure to click the link in my bio.

Be sure to like, follow, and repost this video to help someone else, and I'll see you in the next one.

The part couples miss: the survivor

This is the piece worth reading twice, because it is where the largest amount of money usually sits.

When one spouse dies, the survivor does not keep both benefits. They keep the larger of the two. That single sentence reframes the whole decision, because it means the higher earner’s claiming age does not just set their own income — it sets the floor for whichever spouse lives longer, for as long as they live.

So a higher earner who delays is not only buying a bigger cheque for themselves. They are buying a bigger cheque for their spouse’s widowhood, which may run many years and will arrive at a point when household expenses do not halve. Couples who look at this as two separate decisions frequently get it backwards — the lower earner claiming early and the higher earner waiting is often the stronger combination, and it is rarely what people do instinctively.

Spousal benefits work differently from your own, and they do not earn delayed retirement credits — so there is no advantage in a spouse delaying past full retirement age purely to increase a spousal benefit. That asymmetry catches people out.

The Medicare connection nobody mentions

Two links between Social Security and Medicare are worth knowing before you decide.

Your Part B premium comes out of your Social Security payment once you are receiving both. So the figure that lands in your account is the benefit minus the premium, which is not the number on your statement.

Higher income means a Part B and Part D surcharge, and it is assessed on your income from two years earlier. That two-year lag is the part that catches people: a year with a large Roth conversion, a property sale or a lump sum can raise your Medicare premiums well after the money is spent. Our IRMAA calculator shows where the brackets fall.

Claiming Social Security is also not the same decision as enrolling in Medicare, though people often assume signing up for one handles the other. If you are approaching 65, when to sign up for Medicare sets out those deadlines, and they are the unforgiving kind.

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One of the most common misconceptions I run into is retirees assuming that 65 is the age they should file for Social Security. It's not. And confusing this can cost you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. Here's the reality.

65 is your Medicare age. That's when you become eligible for Medicare and when those enrollment rules and deadlines kick in. Social Security is completely separate and works on a different timeline entirely. With Social Security, you have choices.

You can file as early as 62, but if you do, your benefit gets permanently reduced. You can wait until you're a full retirement age, which, depending on when you were born, is either between 66 and 67. Or, you can delay all the way out to age 70, and every year you wait past your full retirement age, your benefit grows by about 8%. So, the decision isn't just about when you need the money.

It's about your health, it's about budget, it's about your spouse's situation, other income, and honestly, how long you expect to live. File too early, and you lock in a lower payment for life. too long and you may not collect long enough to break even. So just remember there's no universal right answer here.

That's exactly why this decision deserves a real conversation, not a guess. I know these decisions can sometimes be a bit tricky, so for help be sure to continue to like and follow for the best retirement and Medicare education.

How it fits the rest of the plan

Social Security is the largest source of guaranteed, inflation-adjusted income most households will ever have, and it is the piece nothing else in a retirement plan can replicate. That is why the claiming decision is not really a standalone question — it sets how much of your essential spending is already covered before any of your savings are touched.

Retirement income you won’t outlive covers how that fits with the rest, and why the balance between guaranteed and growth money matters more than any single product choice.

Common questions about claiming Social Security

What is my full retirement age?

67 if you were born in 1960 or later. If you were born between 1955 and 1959 it falls between 66 and 67, rising by two months per birth year. Your statement at ssa.gov states it exactly.

Is there any benefit to waiting past 70?

None. Delayed retirement credits stop at 70, so waiting longer simply forgoes payments you could have had. If you are past 70 and have not claimed, do it.

Do I have to claim Social Security to get Medicare?

No. They are separate decisions with separate timelines. Many people enrol in Medicare at 65 and delay Social Security to let the benefit grow, which is a perfectly normal combination.

Are my benefits taxed?

They can be, depending on your total income, and a portion of the benefit becomes taxable above certain thresholds. Because those thresholds interact with everything else on your return, that is a question for your tax preparer rather than an insurance agent.

Can I change my mind after claiming?

There are limited routes — a withdrawal of application within the first year, and the option to suspend benefits once you reach full retirement age. Both have conditions attached, so this is one to check with Social Security directly before relying on it.

Worth working through before you file

This is a permanent decision made once, usually with incomplete information, and often at a moment when income has just stopped and the pressure to start something is high. It deserves an hour with the actual numbers in front of you — your statement, your spouse’s statement, and an honest view of the bills that have to be paid.

Call or text 770-765-7007, or pick a time — plain-language answers at no cost, and someone who is still there afterwards. We are in Cumming, Georgia, and work with households across North Georgia: Forsyth, Cherokee, Hall, Dawson, Lumpkin, Pickens, Gilmer, Fannin, Union and White counties, plus north Gwinnett and north Fulton.