Amendments to the Legislation Regulating Early Retirement
As of the year 2024, there are increasing debates in the US on the possibility of increasing the official retirement age. Thus, today, the schedule of the full retirement age (FRA) with reference to the Social Security benefits depends on the birth year. To the people born in 1960 or after, the FRA is 67 years.
There has been discussion of raising this age by such agents as Larry Fink, head of BlackRock, as the lifespan has risen and the economy has shifted since the last time the retirement age was adjusted in the early 1980s.
Current Retirement Age and Benefits
Actual retirement age also remains inexhaustible depending on the year of birth of the particular individual. For persons born between the year 1943 and 1954, the FRA is set at sixty-six years. For individuals who reached the age from 1955 to 1959, the defined change in retirement age is somewhat progressive, starting from 66 years and two months and up to 66 years and ten months.
The current FRA is for ages born in 1960 and later and is set at sixty seven years. Applying for Social Security benefits before getting to this age leads to the loss of permanently the corresponding amount of monthly benefit.
Early Claims and their Effects
Taking benefits at the age of 62 instead of waiting until your FRA means receiving a smaller SS payment every month. For example , if you begin to claim at the age of 65 whereas the full retirement age is 67 you will receive only about $703 per month.
If you take benefits after your FRA, higher payments result. If you do not commence receiving benefits after you attain your FRA, then your benefit increases by 8 percent every year, as far as the age of 70.
Pros of Delaying Social Security Benefits Until Full Retirement Age
Delays in the time of taking the Social Security can help increase the benefits derived from it up to the FRA and up to the time one turns 70. If you wait until your FRA, for each additional year of waiting your benefits will be 8% higher and thus you get a higher monthly payment.
For those who were born in 1943 or later this increase is sustained until 70 years of age. After reaching this age, there are no additional benefits, so, depending on your priorities and situation’s that is why it’s at least worth to begin planning.
