Social Security timing
Claiming at 62, at full retirement age or at 70 can change your monthly check by more than 70%. See every age side by side, when waiting pays off, and what it means for a spouse.
Your full retirement age is 67. Each year you wait (up to 70) raises your check for life; each year earlier lowers it for life.
| Start at | Monthly | Yearly | Of full amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | $1,680 | $20,160 | 70% |
| 63 | $1,800 | $21,600 | 75% |
| 64 | $1,920 | $23,040 | 80% |
| 65 | $2,080 | $24,960 | 86.7% |
| 66 | $2,240 | $26,880 | 93.3% |
| 67 (full) | $2,400 | $28,800 | 100% |
| 68 | $2,592 | $31,104 | 108% |
| 69 | $2,784 | $33,408 | 116% |
| 70 | $2,976 | $35,712 | 124% |
Starting at full retirement age instead of 62 pulls ahead in total dollars at about age 78.7.
Starting at 70 instead of full retirement age pulls ahead in total dollars at about age 82.5.
Starting at 70 instead of 62 pulls ahead in total dollars at about age 80.4.
If you are married: a spouse can receive up to $1,200 a month (half your full amount) at their own full retirement age, or about $780 at 62; waiting past full retirement age does not raise it. When one of you dies, the survivor keeps the larger of the two checks, so delaying the higher earner's claim raises the survivor's income for life, often the strongest reason to wait.
Uses Social Security's published rules: early claiming lowers the benefit by 5/9 of 1% a month for the first 36 months and 5/12 of 1% after that; waiting adds 8% a year until 70. Amounts are in today's dollars; yearly cost-of-living raises apply to every choice. Break-even ages ignore taxes and investment returns. If you work before full retirement age and earn above Social Security's yearly limit, some benefits are held back until you reach it. Survival odds come from the Social Security 2022 period life table. Nothing you enter here is saved.
Your numbers, working together
Each calculator answers one question. A Retirement Checkup puts them together for your household: savings, Social Security, your home, taxes, health costs and family, including what happens if one of you lives much longer than the other. Keep the numbers you found here; they make the questionnaire quicker and the results more accurate.
Get a Checkup