Social Security retirement benefits are usually straightforward. You work for years. You file for Social Security once you're old enough to do so. You receive the benefits. Easy-peasy, right? However,

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

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.

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.

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%.

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.

The first round of February’s Social Security payments, worth up to $5,108 for the highest-income earners who retire at age 70, will go out to the first group of retirees in 20 days. Here is all you need to know about this month’s Social Security payments,