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Retirement · Claiming age
Three dates, one longevity bet. 62 is the earliest check, permanently reduced. Full retirement age (67 if you were born in 1960 or later) is the unreduced primary insurance amount. 70 is the last delayed-retirement credit. Type the PIA from your statement — this page does not invent one from wages. Couples is a different file: delay the high earner.
Updated 2026-09-14 · 10 min read · Educational, not claiming advice. Run the 62 / FRA / 70 calculator with your PIA. Household sequence: 12-step couples wall.
ssa.gov/myaccount → estimated benefits. You want the primary insurance amount at full retirement age, built from your highest 35 years. A $0 year is a $0 year. A statement printed in 2025 is not a 2026 check — 2026 COLA is 2.8% (SSA COLA fact sheet). Average retired-worker benefit after that COLA is about $2,071/month; the maximum at FRA is about $4,152/month. Those are SSA’s published 2026 figures, not your PIA. Yours is the one on the statement.
WEP and GPO are gone — Social Security Fairness Act, P.L. 118-273 (January 5, 2025). Do not shrink a PIA with a repealed formula because an old blog still has the calculator.
| Birth year | Full retirement age |
|---|---|
| 1943–1954 | 66 |
| 1955 | 66 and 2 months |
| 1956 | 66 and 4 months |
| 1957 | 66 and 6 months |
| 1958 | 66 and 8 months |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months |
| 1960 or later | 67 |
Source: SSA Office of the Chief Actuary, normal retirement age. If you are reading this in 2026 and you were born in 1960, FRA is 67. That is the default in the calculator.
Before FRA, SSA reduces the PIA by 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months, then 5/12 of 1% per month for any months beyond that. After FRA, people born in 1943 or later earn a delayed retirement credit of 2/3 of 1% per month (8% per year) through the month before age 70 (20 CFR 404.313). Credits stop at 70. Waiting until 71 does not buy an 11th year.
| Claim age (FRA 67) | % of PIA | $2,000 PIA |
|---|---|---|
| 62 | 70% | $1,400 / mo · $16,800 / yr |
| 64 | 80% | $1,600 |
| 67 (FRA) | 100% | $2,000 · $24,000 / yr |
| 70 | 124% | $2,480 · $29,760 / yr |
Worked slice
62 vs 67: you collect $1,400 × 60 months = $84,000 before FRA. The FRA check is $600/mo larger, so simple payback is 140 months — age 78 years 8 months. 67 vs 70: you forgo $2,000 × 36 = $72,000; the raise is $480/mo; payback 150 months — age 82 years 6 months. Lifetime to 85 with 0% COLA: 62 $386,400 · FRA $432,000 · 70 $446,400. COLA on a bigger base widens the gap; tax and a short life shrink it. Run your PIA.
The usual “no”
2026 under-FRA test: $1 withheld per $2 over $24,480. $40,000 − $24,480 = $15,520 excess → $7,760 withheld from a $16,800 reduced year. You keep about $9,040. The reduction at 62 is still permanent after the withheld months are recomputed at FRA. If the plan is a W-2 through 67, do not file at 62.
| Your 2026 situation | Annual exempt amount | Withholding |
|---|---|---|
| Under FRA all year | $24,480 ($2,040 / mo) | $1 per $2 over |
| Reach FRA in 2026 (months before FRA) | $65,160 ($5,430 / mo) | $1 per $3 over |
| Month you reach FRA, and after | None | No reduction |
SSA “Receiving Benefits While Working” and the Office of the Chief Actuary exempt-amount table. Type wages in the calculator; this page does not fetch a live limit. Withheld benefits are not lost — SSA increases the monthly amount at FRA to account for months withheld. That is still a reason not to file early into a full-time job.
The actuarial cut and credit are designed so lifetime benefits are roughly similar at average life expectancy. If you die at 74, 62 “won.” If you die at 92, 70 “won.” A pension, Roth, or high-earning spouse makes delay easier because the gap years are funded. If the check is rent, 62 or FRA can be the less-wrong date even if a blog would have waited. Nobody is required to delay into a bounced rent check.
COLA is a percentage, so a bigger check grows by more dollars. A $2,480 benefit at 70 versus $2,000 at 67 starts $480 apart; after a decade of COLAs the dollar gap is larger. That is why the calculator’s lifetime bars let you type a COLA as a what-if — 2.8% was 2026’s printed number, not a forecast for 2036.
A spouse can receive up to 50% of the worker’s PIA, reduced if claimed before FRA, and only after the worker has filed. Restricted application (file only as a spouse, delay your own) closed for anyone born January 2, 1954 or later. File-and-suspend is gone. Deemed filing: asking for one retirement/spousal benefit asks for both.
A widow(er) at FRA can receive up to 100% of what the deceased was due, including delayed credits. Both claiming at 62 is how a long-lived survivor inherits a 70% check. Name the higher PIA and treat that person’s delay as household insurance. The 12-step file is couples claiming. This primer stays the three dates for one worker.
Enroll in Part A/B on time even if Social Security is delayed. Missing Part B while you do not have current-employer coverage is a late-enrollment penalty that does not unwind when you later claim. IRMAA (Part B/D surcharge) uses MAGI from two years back — 2026 premiums look at 2024. A Roth conversion in a gap year can buy lower IRMAA later, or shove you over a cliff now. Sequence that in IRMAA and Roth conversions, not as a surprise the month you file.
Taxability of the check is provisional income, and those thresholds are not indexed. Combined income ≈ AGI + tax-exempt interest + 50% of Social Security (IRS Pub. 915). Single $25,000 / $34,000; MFJ $32,000 / $44,000. Above the second number, up to 85% of the benefit is included — not taxed at 85%. Qualified Roth withdrawals do not lift AGI; traditional IRA/401(k) withdrawals do. That is how “a pension or Roth changes the claiming age.”
Free tool
User-entered PIA, 8% delay credit, 2026 earnings test $24,480 / $65,160, lifetime bars, shareable URL.
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Name the high earner, size the 67→70 gap, spousal after they file, survivor inherits the delayed credit.
If you can fund the gap and expect a long life, delaying is a large inflation-adjusted annuity. If cash is tight or health is poor, claiming earlier can be rational. Break-even vs FRA is often the late 70s to ~82.
67. Born 1943–1954: 66. 1955–1959: 66 plus two months per year. SSA retirement-age chart.
For FRA 67, 30% — you receive 70% of PIA, permanently. 5/9 of 1% per month for 36 months, then 5/12 of 1%.
8% per year after FRA, 2/3 of 1% per month, born 1943+. Stops at 70. FRA 67 → 70 = 124% of PIA.
Before FRA, yes — the earnings test. After FRA, no. Withheld months are recomputed at FRA, not fined away.
$24,480 under FRA all year ($1 per $2). $65,160 in the FRA year ($1 per $3) until the FRA month. SSA, not a scrape.
Spousal up to 50% of the worker’s PIA after they file. Survivor can inherit the delayed credit. Delay the high earner. Restricted application is closed if you were born Jan 2, 1954 or later.
Up to 85% included. Thresholds $25k / $34k single, $32k / $44k MFJ — not indexed. Pub. 915. 85% included is not an 85% tax rate.
Educational only. Confirm SSA retirement-age, delayed-retirement, and while-working pages, plus IRS Pub. 915, for the year you file. Written by Thomas Sanders.