Depending on when you were born, there is a specific age at which you will attain Full Retirement Age.
Your Full Retirement Age is important because it is half of how your Social Security benefit will be calculated.
The other half is based on when you start taking benefits.
When Social Security was initially set up, the full retirement age was 65, and it still is for people born before 1938. But as time has passed, the age for receiving full retirement benefits has crept up as well. If you were born between 1938 and 1960, your full retirement age is somewhere on a sliding scale between 65 and 67. Anyone born in 1960 or later will now have to wait until age 67 for full benefits.
From your 62nd birthday...until your 70th birthday.
There are 96 months that you could file for Social Security benefits.
Each option would not only give you a different monthly benefit, but would also result in a different LIFETIME benefit.
When you include options your spouse would have, survivor benefits and advanced filing options-there are over 20,000 variations about how a married couple could file for benefits.
Every month that you wait to file for your Social Security benefit, your monthly check goes up.
But the longer you wait, the less monthly checks you would receive.
YOU know yourself better than the government and their mortality timetables, so using the information you know about your health, your family history and what not, we can help you determine the right time for you to file in order to maximize your benefit based on your expectancy.
Do you think you can afford to take a risk with your Social Security benefit?
Do you really think it is going to make a difference?
As you can see in the following illustration the difference between the worst benefit and best benefit decision using optimal strategy can be thousands of dollars!
REMEMBER, this benefit IS YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY YOU PUT INTO IT, not something that the government is giving you because you reached a certain age and deserve it.
So what is YOUR Full Retirement Age? How about your PIA?
Your full retirement age (FRA)
Contact Us and we will provide you a complimentary report named SOCIAL SECURITY MAXIMIZATION that will show you EXACTLY at what age-including which month and year-you should trigger benefits and how you should apply. It also includes a variety of other time-specific recommendations, such as when to apply for Medicare or take Required Minimum Distributions from your qualified plans.
No need to wonder, or try to figure out when to do things-the Social Security Maximization Report can lay it all out for you!
How to determine your Primary Insurance Amount and Full Retirement Age
- Go to http://www.ssa.gov
- Click on the link titled, “Estimate your Retirement Benefits” on the left side of the page under “Top Services”
- Scroll down to the blue box that says, “Estimate Your Retirement Benefits” and click on it
- Check the box with the red asterisk next to it that says “I have read the Privacy Act Statement”
- Click on the “I Agree” box
- On the Information We Need Page, enter the required information that has a red asterisk next to it:
- First name
- Last name
- Mother’s maiden name (last name only)
- Social Security number
- Date of birth
- Place of birth (select state)
At the bottom right side of this page, click on “Continue”
The next page gives you an opportunity to view the information you entered and verify that it is correct. If it all looks good, click “Continue” at the bottom right side of the page
The next page will ask you to enter your earnings from last year. Enter zero if you are not earning an income. Click “Continue”
The next page will show your Full Retirement Age and the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) that you would receive at that age if you claimed benefits. It will also tell you the amounts you could expect to receive at age 70 and your current age
In some rare cases, certain taxpayer’s information is not available online. If this is the case for you, call the SSA at (800) 772-1213, and a SSA representative will provide you with all the information you need. Ask, “What is my Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) at Full Retirement Age (FRA)?”