Full Retirement Age (FRA)
Full retirement age is when you receive 100 percent of your Social Security benefit: 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Claiming at 62 permanently cuts the check 30 percent; waiting to 70 permanently raises it 24 percent.
FRA is the anchor the claiming adjustments scale from, not a deadline. Benefits are available from 62, reduced by 5/9 of 1 percent for each of the first 36 months you claim early and 5/12 of 1 percent per month beyond, and they grow by 2/3 of 1 percent for each month you wait past FRA until 70, 8 percent a year. Every adjustment is permanent; later cost-of-living increases apply on top of whatever base you locked in.
Two other rules pivot on FRA. The earnings test, which withholds benefits when you work while claiming early, disappears entirely once you reach it. And survivor and spousal benefit percentages key off it too. The Social Security calculator shows your benefit at 62, 67, and 70 and the break-even ages between them.
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Related terms: Bend Points (Social Security) , AIME (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings) , Safe Withdrawal Rate (4% Rule) , Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)
Last updated . Part of the FinExplained finance glossary .