You receive 100% of your Social Security benefits at your Full Retirement Age (FRA). For individuals born in 1960 or later, this age is 67.
Understanding Your Full Retirement Age
Your Full Retirement Age is the age at which you are eligible to receive 100% of the Social Security benefits calculated from your lifetime earnings. While you can start receiving benefits as early as age 62, claiming them before your Full Retirement Age results in a permanent reduction of your monthly benefit amount.
For those born in 1960 or any subsequent year, your Full Retirement Age is precisely 67. This is the age set by the Social Security Administration (SSA) for receiving your unreduced retirement benefits.
Benefit Reduction by Age
To illustrate how claiming benefits before your Full Retirement Age affects your monthly payment, consider the following:
| If you start getting benefits at age | Your Retirement Benefit will be reduced to |
|---|---|
| 66 + 11 months | 99.4% |
| 67 | 100.0% |
This table clearly shows that waiting until age 67 allows you to receive the full 100% of the benefit amount you are entitled to. Claiming benefits even one month earlier, such as at 66 years and 11 months, would result in a slight reduction (99.4% in this example).
It's important to note that if your birthday falls on the 1st of the month, the Social Security Administration typically calculates your benefit as if your birthday occurred in the previous month.
For detailed information on retirement benefits based on your birth year, you can explore resources directly from the Social Security Administration.
