Retirement Benefits and Retirement Planning
Retirement Benefits
	Choosing when to retire is one of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime. If you choose to retire when you reach full retirement age, you will receive your full benefit amount. But if you retire before reaching full retirement age, you will receive reduced benefits for the rest of your life. Full retirement age If you were born before 1938, you were eligible for your full Social Security benefit on your 65th birthday. In 2003, the age at which full retirement benefits are payable began to increase gradually. Delayed retirement benefits If you choose to delay receiving retirement benefits beyond your full retirement age, your retirement benefit will be increased by a certain percentage, depending on the year you were born. The increase will be added in automatically from the time you reach full
retirement age until you start taking benefits or reach age 70, whichever comes first. If, for example, you were born in 1940, your retirement benefit would increase 7 percent for each year, between your full retirement age and age 70, that you do not get retirement benefits.
Retirement Planning is Key to a Comfortable Retirement
Early Retirement Benefits You may start receiving retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, if you start your retirement benefits early, your retirement benefits are reduced permanently. Your retirement benefit is reduced about one-half of 1 percent for each month you start your Social Security before your full retirement age. For example, if your full retirement age is 66 and you sign up for Social Security when you are 62, you would only get 75 percent of your full benefit. NOTE: The reduction will be greater in future years as the full retirement age increases.
Work and Receive Retirement Benefits
	Social Security Disability Find Answers to Your Social Security Disability Questions Disability Insurance Looking for Supplemental Security Income, We Have Your Answers.
You can continue to work and still receive retirement benefits. Your earnings in (or after) the month you reach full retirement age will not reduce your Social Security benefits. In fact, working beyond full retirement age can increase your retirement benefits. However, your retirement benefits will be reduced if your earnings exceed certain limits for the months before you reach your full retirement age. If you work but start receiving retirement benefits before full retirement age, $1 in retirement benefits will be deducted for each $2 in earnings you have above the annual limit. In 2008, the limit is $13,560. In the year you reach your full retirement age, your retirement benefits will be reduced $1 for every $3 you earn over a different annual limit ($36,120 in 2008) until the month you reach full retirement age. Once you reach full retirement age, you can keep working, and your Social Security benefit will not be reduced no matter how much you earn.  Don't wait too long be for you apply for benefits, you need to know when to apply for benefits.
Home | Privacy Statement | TOS | Contact Us | Medicare | Resources The information in this website was obtained by the SSA.  This site is not indorsed or affiliated with the SSA.  The SSA may change their policy's at any time, this website may or may not reflect the changes.