Since Social Security’s rule of payment depends on when one reaches the retirement age, naturally one’s birth year is a determining factor there. While the current full retirement age is 66 years and 8 months, Americans become eligible for claiming benefits once they reach the age of 62 years. However, waiting till 66 years means reaping more benefits.
People who were born in 1958 are reaching the current FRA this year and as reported by The Sun, “If they waited until reaching FRA to claim their benefits, they could get over 28% more cash in their benefit checks than if they claimed them at 62.”
However, for Americans born in 1959, the wait time to reach the FRA is a little longer than those born in 1958. The 1959 borns will reach their FRA by the beginning of November.
It should be noted here that the FRA has gone through a number of changes over the years. Historically 65 years was the FRA. However, as reported by The Sun, “In 1983, Congress authorized an increase in FRA, which is set to be complete for those born 1960 and after. Those born in the 1960s will reach FRA at age 67, but the FRA has been gradually increasing over the years to meet the new legal requirement.”
Therefore, people born in 1958 and 1959 will reach their FRA this year. However, for people who were born after that the Social Security Administration has set the FRA at66 years and 10 months. This means that people born in December 1959 will be able to cash out their full Social Security benefits by October 2026 as they will be reaching the FRA then.
After 2027, the retirement age is supposed to stay stable at 67 years. Changing it again would require new legislation. Besides the new FRA the new anti-fraud check can also affect the social security payment of many American citizens. Since the new method will include in-person ID checks for some people, older people might find it difficult to comply.
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Amid the new rules by the government to tighten the security around social security payments, there is also a rise in scams that are causing retired people a lot of trouble. Scammers are often posing as people from the SSA and demanding for money that apparently got paid wrongly to the receivers.
In such cases, it is important to remember that the SSA never contacts the beneficiaries this way and if even there is an over payment issue, it will be resolved in an official manner and no one will ask for instant refund over a text or a call.
