Specifically, you lose 5/9 of 1% of your PIA per month for up to 36 months when claiming early, then 5/12 of 1% for every month thereafter. That means signing up for Social Security at 62 can reduce your checks by up to 30%.

Once upon a time, there was no mystery about Social Security’s full retirement age — everyone received their full benefit if they claimed at 65 years of age, the age

If you're eligible to suspend your benefits, you aren't required to pay anything back, as benefits are just on pause instead of canceled completely. Another benefit is you don't have to submit a form to suspend your benefits -- you can just call the SSA and they can take care of the rest for you.

Just for the record though, current 72-year-olds are among those collecting the biggest monthly Social Security payments. Start Your Morn

Almost all Social Security beneficiaries are familiar with the most popular and publicized change: the increase in monthly benefit checks for 2025 due to the automated cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. As you already know, that increase will be 2.5%.

If you are claiming Social Security this year, there’s one number that you absolutely need to know before you move forward. If you don’t know it, or what it means for your claim, you could make a choice that adversely impacts the income you get for the rest of your life.

Social Security imposes a steep penalty for claiming benefits before your FRA. If I begin receiving retirement benefits at age 62, I'll make 30% less than I would if I waited until my FRA of 67. And if I hold off until age 70 to claim benefits, the amount increases by 24% more.

A new law adds to Social Security’s benefit costs at a time the program’s funding is already running low. Here’s what that means for retirement planning.

"I'm very worried — how am I going to survive?" Huntington resident Leann Pisano, 58, a recent nursing school graduate, said of concerns about future Social Security benefits.