Overview
- Roughly half of retirees start Social Security before full retirement age while only about 4% wait until 70 to collect the largest monthly checks.
- Benefits fall by about 6.7% for each year claimed before full retirement age, which means claiming at 62 can cut monthly benefits by roughly 30% for most workers.
- Delaying past full retirement age raises checks by about 8% per year up to age 70 and compounds cost-of-living adjustments on a larger base.
- A concrete employer example reported Tuesday showed voluntary-separation packages that include only three months of employer-subsidized COBRA, leaving a roughly 33-month gap before Medicare and tempting 62-year-olds to file early.
- Claiming early to cover premiums can shrink Marketplace premium tax credits because Social Security counts as modified adjusted gross income and experts recommend using Roth withdrawals, savings, bridge work, or other short-term tools instead of permanently cutting future benefits; the trustees' 2026 report projecting trust fund reserve exhaustion in late 2032 provides an added background of long-term uncertainty.