At a certain age, it pays to acknowledge and celebrate each birthday that arrives. And you may be excited about turning 67 not just because you've enjoyed another year around the sun, but because your 67th birthday has some big implications for your retirement. Here are three things to know if your 67th birthday is arriving in 2026.
1. You'll be able to claim Social Security without a reduction
Once you turn 62, you can sign up for Social Security at any time. But if you don't wait until full retirement age, you'll face a reduction in benefits on a permanent basis.
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For people without a lot of retirement savings, that's a financial hit that's hard to overcome. And even if you have a decent amount of money saved for retirement, you may find that you'd still rather have larger benefits for more of a financial cushion. As such, you may want to wait until 67 to sign up for Social Security, since it's full retirement age for people born in 1960 or later.
Of course, if you're turning 67 in 2026, it means you were born in 1959 and that your full retirement age is 66 and 10 months. But depending on the timing of your birthday, you may not reach full retirement age until 2026. So if you've been holding off on taking Social Security benefits for that reason, the wait is finally over.
2. You may want to delay your Social Security claim
No matter what month your 67th birthday falls in, you should know that waiting to claim Social Security past full retirement age could work to your advantage. For each year you delay your claim beyond that point, your benefits get a permanent 8% increase.
Of course, the downside to delaying Social Security is having to wait longer to get that money. And that could have an impact on your retirement plans.
For example, you may not feel comfortable leaving your job without the promise of a monthly Social Security paycheck. So delaying Social Security past full retirement age could mean postponing retirement and working longer.
The upside is that you get a larger guaranteed monthly paycheck for all of retirement. And that money could come in handy if you end up having to withdraw from your IRA or 401(k) at a faster pace than expected.
One thing it pays to do once you turn 67 is think about the amount of retirement savings you have and whether it's enough. If not, you may want to consider delaying Social Security at least a little bit.
3. You may need to enroll in Medicare if you'll be retiring
If you're retiring in conjunction with turning 67, it may mean losing access to the group health insurance plan you had through your job. And so if you didn't sign up for Medicare already, you'll want to do so pretty quickly -- for the sake of having coverage and avoiding penalties.
People who don't enroll in Medicare during their initial seven-month window surrounding their 65th birthday can enroll later on without penalty, provided they had qualifying group health coverage at the time. But once you leave your job and your health coverage ends, you'll have an eight-month special enrollment period to sign up for Medicare without facing surcharges for a late enrollment.
Of course, not only is this a fair amount of time to enroll in Medicare, but many people wouldn't dream of going more than eight months without health coverage. But it's something to be aware of nonetheless.
Age 67 is a milestone worth celebrating. Keep these points in mind if you're gearing up for that big birthday. And in the coming weeks, you may want to take the time to play around with different Social Security strategies so you can make the most of those monthly benefits -- in the near term as well as the future.
