In fact, the earliest age you can claim Social Security is 62. But if you file at age 62 with a FRA of 67, your benefits will suffer a 30% hit.
And to be clear, that reduction is a permanent one. When you file for Social Security early, your benefits don’t magically get bumped up to a higher amount once you reach FRA. Rather, in exchange for getting your money sooner, you get less of it on a permanent basis.
Commit that number to memory
Knowing your FRA could help you make the most of the Social Security income you’re entitled to. Imagine you’re coming into retirement without much in the way of savings. In that case, you might want a higher Social Security paycheck to make up for that.
For each year you delay your filing beyond FRA, up until age 70, your benefits will grow by 8%. This means that if your FRA is 67, filing at 70 will result in a 24% boost to your Social Security paychecks.
But knowing your FRA is pivotal to making that decision. And so it’s important that you commit that number to memory in the course of your retirement planning. It may influence not only your Social Security strategy, but your retirement strategy as a whole.
