Social Security at 62, 67, or 70? How to Choose the Right Time

By: Jack Strulowitz

Letting fruit ripen a little longer on the branch before picking it can mean more size, more sweetness, more value in every piece that comes off the tree. But nothing about that patience is free. A storm can roll through, an early frost can hit, or the fruit can simply rot before anyone gets around to picking it. The grower who waits is betting that the extra ripening is worth the risk of losing the harvest altogether.

Social Security works on a similar kind of patience, but here the growth is guaranteed by law, specifically a 1983 reform that reshaped the whole system and is only now finishing its phase-in.

Full retirement age, the age at which you receive exactly 100 percent of your earned benefit, is now 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later (Social Security Administration). Claim before that and the cut is permanent, and it scales with how early you file. Only someone who claims right at 62, the earliest age allowed, sees a full 30 percent reduction. Filing at 63, 64, 65, or 66 still means a permanent cut, just a smaller one the closer you get to 67. On the other side of 67, every year you hold off adds another 8 percent, whether you stop at 68, 69, or wait the full three years to 70. The credits stop building once you hit 70.

To put that in real numbers, someone collecting $3,000 a month at 67 would see that grow to roughly $3,720 by waiting until 70, the same 24 percent increase applied to a figure most people can picture. The average Social Security recipient today collects about $2,071 a month, though that figure blends everyone together regardless of when they claimed (Social Security Administration). The same percentages apply no matter the starting amount. Waiting from 67 to 70 permanently resizes the monthly check for the rest of your life.

So why doesn’t everyone just wait until 70? Because the payoff only works if you’re around long enough to collect it. Someone who waits also gives up three years of checks they could have already been collecting since 67. The bigger monthly amount from waiting has to close that gap before it actually gets ahead, and depending on the assumptions used, that catch-up point usually lands somewhere between the late 70s and the mid 80s, depending on which assumptions you use. Live past that age and waiting comes out ahead, sometimes by a lot. Pass away earlier and the person who claimed at 62 actually collected more total dollars, even with the smaller monthly check. Nobody has a crystal ball here, which is exactly why this isn’t a math problem with one clean answer. It’s a bet on your own longevity, complicated by the fact that you’re the one holding the dice.

It gets more complicated once a spouse is in the picture. A spousal benefit is capped at half of the working spouse’s full retirement age benefit, and that cap doesn’t move even if the working spouse delays all the way to 70. Say the working spouse’s benefit at 67 is $2,000 a month. The spouse’s maximum is $1,000. Wait until 70 and grow that check to $2,480, and the spouse’s maximum is still $1,000, not half of the bigger number. On top of that, the spouse can’t start collecting at all until the working spouse actually files, so delaying to 70 also delays when the spouse’s benefit becomes available, regardless of the spouse’s own age (Social Security Administration).

None of this means waiting is always the right move. Someone managing health concerns, or who needs the income now to cover real expenses, may come out ahead claiming earlier despite the permanent reduction. A guaranteed check today has its own value, especially if the alternative is drawing down savings that could otherwise keep growing untouched.

Claiming Social Security works better as a household decision than a date circled on a calendar. Health, other income, savings, and how the numbers interact between spouses all belong in that conversation. Running the actual numbers together usually reveals more than defaulting to whatever age feels familiar. 

Jack Strulowitz is a Financial Advisor at Bernath & Rosenberg in Cedarhurst, NY, where he helps high-net worth individuals and families manage their investments and build comprehensive strategies for retirement, tax, and estate planning. For questions or to schedule a consultation, please contact [email protected] or 847-962-3352.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, member FINRA/SIPC.