Debating When to Claim Social Security? Independent Experts Agree This Is the Best Age
Despite the data, most people don't follow this approach.
By Stefon Walters
When you claim Social Security is an important decision because it'll permanently affect how much you receive in benefits. Your full retirement age is when you're eligible to receive your baseline benefit (called your "primary insurance amount"), but you can claim as early as age 62 or wait until 70.
Everyone's situation is different, so there's no single age that's universally best. However, independent experts have performed research and decided that one Social Security claiming age stands out as the better choice for most people.
How your claiming age affects your benefits
If you were born in 1960 or later, your full retirement age is 67. Claiming benefits before then will reduce your primary insurance amount based on how far out you are.
Age 66: 6.7% reduction
Age 65: 13.3%
Age 64: 20%
Age 63: 25%
Age 62: 30%
If you delay benefits past your full retirement age, your primary insurance amount will be increased by 2/3 of 1% monthly. This works out to 8% annually and a 24% boost if you wait until 70 to claim. After 70, benefits no longer increase, which is why it's considered the latest claiming age.
What claiming age do experts recommend?
According to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the best age to claim benefits is 70 because it offers the opportunity for higher lifetime benefits.
Take someone debating whether to claim at 62 or 70, for example. Their break-even age -- when the total benefits received across both claiming ages are equal -- would be around 80.3 years old. That means before then, they would've received more lifetime benefits by claiming at 62, and after then, they would've received more by claiming at 70.
If you're debating between claiming at age 67 or 70, the break-even age is 82.5, but the same approach applies. Since most people will live past their break-even age, the better choice is to claim at 70 to maximize lifetime benefits.
Your personal situation always takes priority over data
Everyone's life situation is different, so there's no cookie-cutter approach that applies universally.
For some people, waiting until 70 isn't realistic because they need Social Security for their retirement income. Others may have health issues that could reduce the chances of them living long enough to maximize lifetime benefits. And some people simply don't care about maximizing total benefits; they want to take advantage of benefits as soon as possible.
There are plenty of situations where claiming before 70 is the right move, but if you have other retirement income sources -- such as a 401(k), IRA, pension, or investments -- and don't need Social Security, then waiting is the way to go in most cases. According to the same NBER study, however, only around 1 in 10 people do so.