When you turn 62, you hit an exciting milestone. You become eligible for Social Security benefits for the first time. It may be tempting to jump into claiming these benefits right away so you can retire and start enjoying life.
Before you do that, though, there is an important warning about any early Social Security claim that you need to read.
This warning could affect your retirement planning, and it may convince you to make different choices and put off your benefits claim instead of claiming ASAP.
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Don't claim Social Security benefits at 62 without reading this
The key warning that you need to heed about retirement benefits is that a claim at 62 will shrink your checks for the rest of your life and will give you far worse odds of maxing out your lifetime benefits.
See, you have a Full Retirement Age for Social Security. FRA is based on when you were born. The following table shows when yours is based on your birth year.
| Year of Birth | Full Retirement Age (FRA) |
|---|---|
| 1943–1954 | 66 |
| 1955 | 66 and 2 months |
| 1956 | 66 and 4 months |
| 1957 | 66 and 6 months |
| 1958 | 66 and 8 months |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months |
| 1960 or later | 67 |
Data source: author.
If you're turning 62 in 2026, your 1964 birth year means that your FRA is 67. A claim at 62 would be five years before your FRA. That decision to make such an early claim will profoundly affect your monthly and lifetime income from Social Security because you'd be hit with five years of early filing penalties.
Early filing penalties apply for any month before FRA that you get a Social Security check. The result of these penalties is that you would shrink your checks by 30% if you claimed at 62. If your benefit would have been $2,000 at your FRA, you'd get just $1,400 instead, losing $600 per month. This reduction in benefits is permanent.
You must be aware of this before you shrink your checks by claiming just because you've become eligible. You'd need to pull a lot more money from your retirement plans to supplement Social Security because of an early claim, and you could find yourself facing financial shortfalls in the future if your retirement accounts begin running dry.
Will you regret an early Social Security claim?
Making the decision to claim Social Security at 62 could end up being something that you regret because of the reduction in monthly benefits. There are a few key reasons for this:
- Social Security benefits are protected against inflation and guaranteed until your death, so it can make sense to maximize this critical source of lifetime income. That's especially true if you aren't confident you have enough money in your 401(k) or IRA to last for the rest of your life.
- You'll reduce your odds of maximizing lifetime income. Studies have shown that around seven in 10 retirees end up with more lifetime income when they wait to claim Social Security instead of claiming it as soon as they are eligible. While early filing penalties and delayed retirement credits were supposed to result in equal benefits for early and late claimers, life expectancies have become longer since this system was created, resulting in delayed claimers having better odds of earning more lifetime income.
- Many seniors struggle later in life as medical bills climb and savings account balances fall. It can be better to have a higher benefit at that time when you need it.
- Your early claim will also shrink survivor benefits if you are the higher earner. If you pass away before your spouse, your decision to claim benefits at 62 could put them in a tight spot.
For all these reasons, you don't want to rush into a Social Security claim when you turn 62. Take the time to think through the lifetime implications of this choice to make sure it's really right for you.
