When should you start taking Social Security?

Social Security retirement benefits can begin as early as 62, but the monthly amount depends heavily on when you start. Your full retirement age, between 66 and 67 depending on birth year, is the reference point: claiming earlier permanently reduces the monthly benefit by up to about 30 percent, and delaying past full retirement age increases it by roughly 8 percent per year until 70, after which there is no further gain. These adjustments are permanent, not temporary, which is the fact that most changes people's thinking once they understand it.

The decision turns on individual circumstances rather than a universal rule. Delaying pays off if you live long enough to pass the break-even point, typically in the late seventies or early eighties, which makes health and family longevity central to the calculation. Claiming early makes sense if you have serious health problems, need the income to avoid depleting savings at a bad time, or have no other option. Spousal and survivor benefits complicate it in ways worth attention, since a surviving spouse can step up to the higher earner's benefit, which is a strong argument for the higher earner in a couple to delay. Working while collecting before full retirement age can temporarily withhold benefits, though they are credited back later. The Social Security Administration's own calculators using your actual earnings record are the right tool, and this is a decision worth modeling rather than defaulting into.