Social Security provides retirement, disability and survivors benefits to millions of Americans every year, but the largest portion of benefits goes to those who have reached a certain age and begin collecting Social Security retirement benefits. Contrary to the belief of some, there is no one definitive age someone has to decide to start collecting retirement benefits. Seniors can begin collecting benefits as early as age 62 and as late as age 70. One might wonder why someone would wait eight years to collect Social Security retirement benefits and the answer is simple. Payments increase each year someone defers collecting Social Security benefits.
People who decided to collect beginning at age 62 are collecting early benefits before reaching the full retirement age which is anywhere from 65 to 67 depending on what year someone was born. The problem with collecting early is that a person pays a penalty and could see a more than 20 percent reduction of benefits for the rest of their life compared to others who wait until they reach the full retirement age. And those who wait until age 70 see a substantial increase in monthly benefits as compared to someone who began collecting at full retirement age.
Some people may not be aware that their retirement benefits increase the older they begin to collect. These people may regret their decision to collect Social Security early, but the good news is you can change your mind.
If someone decides that beginning Social Security benefits early was the wrong decision they have up to 12 months to request Social Security to withdraw their application so they can wait a few years before collecting retirement benefits to maximize their future monthly payments. There is a catch of course, any money paid to you by Social Security must be returned before Social Security will honor the withdraw request. To learn more click here.
