Is This the Perfect Age to Start Social Security?

You do everything you can to prepare yourself for a comfortable retirement: You save what you're able to. You budget carefully. And now you want to optimize your Social Security claim so you can take home the most money possible.

Your claiming age has a huge effect on how much you get from the program, but once you've made your choice, it's difficult to undo it. You may already have a claiming age in mind. But you wonder whether it's really the perfect age to sign up.

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The short answer to that is no. There is no such thing as the perfect Social Security claiming age. But there are some ages that could be better than others for you.

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How your claiming age affects your Social Security benefit

You can claim Social Security as young as age 62, but you're not actually eligible for the full benefit you've earned based on your work history until you reach your full retirement age (FRA). This is 67 for most workers today, though some older adults have FRAs as young as 66.

Claiming before your FRA reduces your checks by 5/9 of 1% per month for up to 36 months of early claiming and then by 5/12 of 1% per month thereafter. That means someone with a FRA of 67 who claims as soon as they turn 62 will only receive 70% of the amount they could've been entitled to had they waited until their FRA to sign up. It's enough to knock a $2,000 monthly benefit down to just $1,400 per month.

Put another way, your checks grow a little for every month you don't claim, and this continues until you reach 70. Once you pass your FRA, your checks grow by 2/3 of 1% per month. That can add 24% to your checks if you have a FRA of 67. But it also means you have to cover your retirement expenses on your own for a longer period.

Choosing the best claiming age for you

While there is no single best claiming age for everyone, there are some ages that are better choices for you than others. It depends on a few key factors. The first is your financial situation. If you don't have adequate personal savings to cover your expenses in the meantime and you're unable to work, claiming Social Security early might be a smart move to keep yourself financially secure, even if it means settling for a smaller lifetime benefit.

When this isn't an issue, the ideal claiming age often comes down to life expectancy. Those with longer life expectancies often benefit more from delaying Social Security, while those with shorter life expectancies may get more from claiming early.

If you're married, you also have to consider how your claiming age may affect your partner's spousal Social Security benefits, which are worth up to one-half of the benefit you qualify for at your FRA. They cannot claim these checks until you've applied for Social Security. It's important to talk through your options with your partner to make sure you're both on the same page about when you want to claim.

This will go a lot easier if you each create a my Social Security account. There's a tool there that can help you estimate your benefit at various claiming ages, and calculate your spousal benefits too. If you expect your income to change between now and retirement, you can make adjustments for that as well.

Once you've got an approximation of how much you can expect to get from Social Security each month, you can begin to figure out how much you'll need to save for retirement on your own. But keep in mind that if your health or financial situation changes, you may need to update your retirement and Social Security plans.

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