When to start Social Security

You can start Social Security any time between 62 and 70, and the age you pick changes the size of your check for the rest of your life. There's no single right answer. But understanding a few rules makes the choice much clearer, especially for couples.

Your "full retirement age"

Social Security calculates your benefit around a full retirement age. For anyone born in 1960 or later, that age is 67. (If you were born earlier, it's a little younger.)

• Start at 62, and your check is permanently reduced, to about 70% of your full benefit.
• Start at 67, and you get 100%.
• Wait past 67, and your check grows by 8% a year until 70, reaching about 124% of your full benefit.

After 70, there's no reason to wait longer, because your benefit stops growing.

Your check also goes up with inflation each year, whatever age you start. So a larger starting check means larger raises, too.

Starting early while you're still working

If you start before your full retirement age and keep working, Social Security may hold back some of your benefits if your earnings are above a yearly limit. The money isn't lost: your check is recalculated upward once you reach full retirement age. Still, it surprises people, and it's one reason starting early while working full time often doesn't make sense.

Benefits for spouses

If you're married, you may be able to receive a benefit based on your spouse's work record instead of your own: up to half of your spouse's full benefit if you start at your own full retirement age, and less if you start earlier. (There's no extra credit for waiting past full retirement age on a spousal benefit.) Your spouse generally needs to have started their own benefit first.

Divorced? If your marriage lasted at least 10 years and you haven't remarried, you may qualify for a benefit on your former spouse's record. It doesn't reduce what they or their current spouse receive.

Benefits for survivors

When one spouse dies, the survivor keeps the larger of the two checks, not both. That's the single most important fact for couples deciding when to start.

If the higher earner waits to start, their check grows, and so does the check the survivor would keep. For a couple, the higher earner's decision is really a decision about the survivor's income, possibly for decades.

Will my benefits be taxed?

Possibly. It depends on your combined income: your other income, plus any tax-free interest, plus half of your Social Security. If that's above $25,000 for a single person ($32,000 for a married couple filing together), up to half of your benefits can be taxed. Above $34,000 ($44,000 for couples), up to 85% can be. Those amounts are set in law and don't rise with inflation, so more retirees cross them each year.

Some states tax Social Security too, though most don't.

So, when?

People often start earlier when they need the income, have health concerns, or are single with a shorter life expectancy in their family. People often wait when they're healthy, can live on other savings for a few years, or are the higher earner in a couple.

A good first step is to look at your own estimates. Create an account at ssa.gov to see what you'd receive at each age, and make sure your earnings record is correct.

This is general information, not personal advice. The rules have exceptions, for example for people who worked outside the U.S.