When to retire is one of the most essential decisions that every employee must make during their career. It is a significant decision since it will influence the Social Security payment they receive until they die, so making the appropriate choice is critical at this stage.
Every year, workers reach their full retirement age and decide whether to reflect on their job, life, and possibilities before retiring or to continue working for a few more years.
In reality, some people may have completed this procedure years ago and will be retired by the time they reach their full retirement age, so this article may not be relevant to those who are already receiving benefits.
For those who are still working and want additional information, read on to find out if 2025 will be the year you receive your first benefit check.
Collecting Social Security in 2025 at full retirement age
Although we discussed full retirement age in the introduction, it is not the only age at which a worker might begin receiving retirement benefits. Workers can claim benefits as early as age 62, so those born in 1963 can start this year.
Having said that, there is a significant disadvantage to filing an early claim: benefits would be permanently cut by 30% of what they would have been at full retirement age.
According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), the maximum payout for a worker who retires at full retirement age in 2024 is $3,822. However, if you retire at age 62 in 2024, the maximum benefit is $2,710.
The difference is pretty apparent, and while there are numerous reasons why a person might wish to advance their retirement age and start collecting benefits sooner rather than later, if you are not one of those people, knowing when to claim will be useful information.
Nowadays, the term “full retirement age” is somewhat deceptive, as there is no one age at which any worker will suddenly become entitled for 100% of their primary insurance amount (PIA) or the full retirement payment.
This is because the full retirement age has progressively risen since 1984, when the Social Security program failed for the first time.
Rising full retirement is one among the remedies they proposed to prevent future crises, and because the increase was gradual, it has yet to be fully implemented.
The increase was intended to raise the complete retirement age from the original 65 established in 1935 to 67 years old for people born in 1960 or after. The table below can help those who want to know exactly when they will reach full retirement age.
To be safe, remember that you must claim benefits no earlier than four months before the date your benefits are scheduled to begin, and to be even safer, try to claim as close to your full retirement age as possible, so that the Social Security Administration has enough time to process your benefits and you have reached your full retirement age without losing benefits.