Reaching the age of 62 is quite significant. This often represents the conclusion of a long-term professional journey for numerous individuals. Additionally, this age brings with it access to Social Security benefits, which serve as an essential financial resource for many who have retired.
Applying for Social Security benefits is a significant choice, one that can be hard to reverse. Should you be thinking about filing for benefits in 2025, there are several points you should keep in mind.
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1. You cannot apply for benefits unless you have reached your full 62nd birthday for the complete month.
You can file for Social Security benefits up to four months prior to when you intend to start receiving them, though most individuals become eligible after reaching age 62. The rules state that you have to reach your full 62nd year—meaning the entirety of that birth month—to qualify for benefit payments.
Should you have been born on either the 1st or the 2nd day of any month, your birth month itself marks when you become eligible for Social Security benefits. However, if your birthday falls on any other date within the month, you must wait until the following month to start claiming these benefits.
Remember that the Social Security Administration releases payments in the month following their scheduled date. So, if you reach age 62 on March 21, 2025, you will not qualify for benefits until April 2025, with your initial payment arriving in May 2025.
Moreover, the date during the month when you receive your payments relies on the birthdate as outlined below:
- Born on the 1st to the 10th: Second Wednesday of the month
- Born on the 11th to the 20th: Third Wednesday of the month
- Born on the 21st to the 31st: Fourth Wednesday of the month
So in our example, you might turn 62 on March 21, 2025, but you won't actually receive your first check until May 28, 2025. You'll need other income sources to cover your expenses until then.
2. Claiming at 62 could permanently reduce your benefit
Claiming Social Security at any point under your full retirement age (FRA) reduces your monthly checks. Your FRA depends on your birth year, but it will be somewhere between 66 and 67.
You lose five-ninths of 1% per month for your first 36 months of early claiming. If you apply even earlier, you lose another five-twelfths of 1% per month. That means those who apply immediately at 62 reduce their monthly checks by 25% if their FRA is 66, or 30% if their FRA is 67. That's enough to drop the $1,967 average monthly benefit in 2025 to as low as $1,377 per month.
This doesn't mean claiming early is always the wrong choice. It might be your best move if you have a short life expectancy or don't have enough other income to make ends meet. But if neither of these issues apply to you, delaying Social Security will likely lead to a larger lifetime benefit .
And you don't have to stop at your FRA, either. You can continue to grow your checks past your FRA by two-thirds of 1% per month until you qualify for your maximum benefit at 70.
3. You could reduce the survivors benefits available to your family members
Social Security survivors benefits are available to your spouse and dependents after you pass away. If you weren't already claiming Social Security, they're based on the relationship of the family member and your primary insurance amount (PIA) -- the benefit you're entitled to at your FRA. But if you were actively claiming benefits, your family's survivors benefits are based on the amount you received instead.
If you claim early, you're not only reducing the size of your own monthly checks, but you're also shrinking the amount your family will get after you pass away. For this reason, you may prefer to hold off on claiming Social Security if you don't need the money right away.
Note that the rules for survivors benefits differ from those of spousal benefits . With spousal benefits, the spouse's maximum benefit is always one-half of the worker's PIA, regardless of when the worker applies for Social Security. However, the spouse can't claim a spousal benefit until the worker has signed up. Also, if the spouse claims benefits under their own FRA, they could reduce their own checks.
If you have any questions about your Social Security benefits, it's smart to clarify these with online research or by reaching out to the Social Security Administration before you apply. It's possible to undo your Social Security claim within the first 12 months if you change your mind. But you'd have to pay back all the benefits you'd already received. This is tough for most people to do, so it's best to wait to sign up until you're confident you're ready.
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