Social Security Retirement Age: When Can You Retire?
Currently, there are several ages to consider when it comes to Social Security retirement benefits.
The full retirement age for people retiring now (including baby boomers who were born between 1943 and 1954) is age 66. The full retirement age will gradually increase for people born after 1954 until it reaches age 67 (for people born in 1960 or later).
However, people can choose to collect benefits as early as age 62, as late as age 70, or anywhere in between.
If you choose early retirement, you can collect benefits as early as age 62, but your benefits will be reduced for each month that you collect them before you reach full retirement age. People who retire at age 62 and start collecting Social Security at that time will only receive 75% of the benefit they would receive at full retirement age.
Alternatively, you can choose to wait until age 70 to start collecting your Social Security retirement benefits. By waiting, you will increase your benefit amount to 132% of the benefit you would receive at your normal retirement age.
Interesting tidbit: When Social Security was established way back in 1935, the age of retirement – and when you could start collecting benefits – was age 65. The law wasn’t changed until 1956, when it was amended to allow women to apply as early as age 62. The assumption was that wives were younger than their husbands and that they would want to retire at the same time. Note that men could not apply for benefits at age 62 until the law was amended again in 1961.
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[...] I mentioned in Social Security Retirement Age: A Brief History Lesson, the original retirement age was 65 (there was no early retirement). The law was changed in 1956 [...]