Posted on 03/23/2026 9:16:02 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Choosing when to collect Social Security retirement benefits is a consequential decision. It will affect your finances for the rest of your life. You’ll be able to claim reduced retirement benefits as early as 62.
In fact, in 2022, nearly 30 percent of new Social Security beneficiaries began receiving benefits at age 62, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The full retirement age (FRA) for those born in 1960 or later is 67, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA). Although you can claim the benefits early, there are drawbacks. And one of them relates to any continued employment.
You can receive Social Security or survivors’ benefits and work at the same time. But the Social Security earnings test will be applied to you.
According to the SSA, if you start collecting retirement benefits before FRA and earn more than $24,480 in 2026, you will be penalized. The SSA deducts $1 from your benefits for every $2 you earn above $24,480.
If you reach FRA in 2026, the SSA deducts $1 from your benefits for every $3 you earn above $65,160 until the month you reach FRA.
For example, you file for benefits in January 2026, and your payment is $600 monthly, or $7,200 annually. But during 2026, you plan to work and earn $26,080. You will be $1,600 above the limit. The SSA would withhold $800 of your Social Security benefits.
If you file for Social Security benefits at 62 in January 2026, and your benefit is $600 a month, or $7,200 per year. During 2026, you plan to work and earn $26,080, which is $1,600 above the limit. The SSA would withhold $800 of your Social Security benefits ($1 for every $2 you earned over the limit).
To do this, they would withhold all $600 benefits in January and all $600 benefits in February to take the $800. Keep in mind that the SSA does not make partial payments. So, they would take all the February benefits. In other words, you would go two months without benefits. But you would receive all your $600 benefit in March.
The SSA would pay you the additional $400 they took from February 2026 back to you in January 2027.
The SSA doesn’t actually know your earnings in advance. They rely on three items: your estimate when you apply; your employer’s wage reports; and your tax return later.
Often, they don’t know you’ve gone over the maximum until the following year. At that point, they would withhold the overage.
Sometimes, people younger than FRA begin receiving benefits in the middle of the year. At that point, they may have already exceeded the yearly limit.
According to the SSA, under the first-year rule, you can receive full Social Security benefits for any whole month you are retired, and earnings are below the monthly limit. In other words, the limit starts the month you start receiving benefits, not for the prior months when you may have gone over the limit.
So, if you started receiving benefits in July 2026, you must be under the limit from July through December 2026. But you don’t have to be below the limit from January 2026 through June 2026.
This rule allows you to work earlier in the year, retire midyear, and still collect Social Security immediately without losing benefits earned before you started collecting them.
Although some of your benefits may be reduced if you work, they will be returned later. According to the SSA, if some of your benefits are withheld because of your earnings, your monthly benefit will increase starting at FRA. It will take into account those months when benefits were withheld.
Whether or not you’re working, if you start drawing your Social Security benefits before FRA, you’ll receive less money.
If you start receiving benefits early, your benefits will be reduced by a small percentage for each month before your FRA. According to the SSA, those born in 1960 or later will have their benefits reduced by 30 percent if they retire at 62.
So, if your FRA benefit is $1,000, because of the reduction, you’ll receive $700 if you start benefits at age 62. A spouse’s benefit is reduced by 35 percent, which brings it down to $325, according to the SSA.
The best and most convenient way to contact the SSA is to visit www.ssa.gov. You’ll be able to use their services and receive information. If you live outside the United States, visit www.ssa.gov/foreign to access online services.
If you don’t have internet access, call 1-800-772-1213 or the TTY number, 1-800-325-0778 if you’re deaf or hard of hearing. They recommend calling between Wednesday and Friday and later in the month when it’s less busy.
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I took it as soon as I was eligible. Apply 3 months prior to your 62nd birthday so you won’t miss a penny. The grifters in D.C. do not care about you and is shown how they so easily allow non-contributors to obtain S.S. and the outright theft of the numerous programs they should not be involved in. Never did I believe our own people who choose to run for public office would end up so devious and allow such blatant theft. If our Government ran at even 70% efficiency every LEGAL American would get a check for just being a citizen at tax refund time...
Obviously, everybody has to decide what he or she or they/them is best for himself or herself or theyselves/themselves.
I subscribe to the "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" philosophy.
in theory the money lost by those who die early goes to those who live longer than expected. the program is not just a “get back what you put in” program.
This is a good summary and the reason that those of us who are still working at age 62 have zero incentive to file for social security until we retire.
As for dying before collecting I would check your genetics. If parents and grandparents lived into their 90s (like mine) or later than you may want to delay collecting. Assuming you can still work or have other income.
I had the good fortune to have a good paying job in my 60’s and early 70’s, so instead of retiring and taking my Social Security in my 60’s, I waited and kept my full-time job, where my salary was still increasing. As a result when I did start taking Social Security at 70 it was at a very healthy level, even though I am still working. Not everybody is able to do that, but I was very fortunate in that regard.
I retired at 62 to make sure I collect every dime I paid into it.
“I retired at 62 to make sure I collect every dime I paid into it.”
Ditto. Both of us did that, and our yearly income now is more than it was when we worked. Living below our means while working allowed us to save and invest.
I turn 62 right about when SS is projected to run out of reserves, so I plan to take what I can get as early as I can. I’ve always relied on the assumption that I will get _nothing_ so getting anything at all will be a blessing and seem like an upside at that point.
Had the real SS been a true social insurance company administered by the gubmint, recipients would be getting 10 times what they are getting now.
Am I a Rand Paul libertarian who hates SS? Well, if you are going to do SS, at least don't make it a joke that insults everyone every month when they get some paltry check.
Because then they will have to become red caps at the Minneapolis airport to bring in an extra few bucks when they are geezers. Maybe they can help carry the Somalians' suitcases crammed with Benjamins as they fly away to Switzerland.
What if you make money by having your stock go up and you withdraw some of it?
I am 75 this year and still working a high paying government job. I collect SS plus the extended bonus of 30 something percent with no penalty. I started my job at 58 you so don’t think I’ve been at cushy government job all my life. I paid my dues then got back in line to see what I vould get back.
Who could live on $600 a month? That barely covers the electric bill.
I continued working until I hit 65. I tried to apply for SS at 62 while working, but was told that I made so much money that I would be paid nothing, but I would be limiting my lifetime monthly payments because I started “drawing” at 62. So it made no sense to draw SS until I actually retired.
One of my friends was getting SS and so was her husband. He passed away so now she only gets his. She was gobsmacked to learn that she was losing hers and only collecting his since he had worked his entire life and it was just GONE. The lady at the SS office had to explain it to her several times.
Does anyone know if those millions of ILLEGALS who were given SS numbers by the Biden admin will be removed?
There are no reserves. People receiving SS are getting from those working today. There is no lockbox.
Need to talk to an SS rep on their 800 number? Make sure you have an hour available for them to pick up or return your call. Like they say - call later in the week or later in the day.
I applied three months early just to find out they will sit on your application until 2 - 4 weeks before you desired SS start date. So take their “Typically takes 30 days to review your application” with a grain of salt.
Call the day before a national holiday.
Call on a Thursday afternoon.
Up until 1984 Social Security payments were not taxable.
Now with one hand the government gives back some of the money they took from you in your working years and with the other hand takes some of it back again.
The Feral Government taxed your earnings as income when you were working and taxed it as income again when you received some of it back it as Social Security retirement.
FRA = Full Retirement Age
aka Normal Retirement Age (NRA)
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