Age To Receive Full Social Security Retirement Benefits

If your full retirement age is older than 65 (that is, you were born after 1937), you still will be able to take your retirement benefits at age 62, but the reduction in your benefit amount will be greater than it is for people retiring now.

Here's how it works. If your full retirement age is 67, the reduction for starting your benefits at

62 is about 30 percent;
age 63 is about 25 percent;
age 64 is about 20 percent;
age 65 is about 13 and 1/3 percent; and
age 66 is about 6 and 2/3 percent.

As a general rule, early retirement will give you about the same total Social Security benefits as full retirement over your lifetime, but in smaller amounts to take into account the longer period you will receive them.

**Age To Receive Full Social Security Benefits**
Year of Birth	Full Retirement Age
1937 or earlier	65
1938	65 and 2 months
1939	65 and 4 months
1940	65 and 6 months
1941	65 and 8 months
1942	65 and 10 months
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 and later	67

The earliest a person can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits will remain age 62.

If you delay your retirement after you reach full retirement age, your benefit will increase but you will not receive as many payments. If you decide to delay your retirement, be sure to

sign up for Medicare at age 65.

In some circumstances, medical insurance costs more if you delay applying for it.


	Privacy Policy \| Website Policies & Other Important Information \| Site Map Last reviewed or modified Monday Jan 14, 2008	Need Larger Text?