Social Security is arguably the most important social program in the U.S., providing benefits to tens of millions of retirees who use the income to supplement their savings or as a primary source of income in retirement.
However, the program is complex and has many wonky rules. While retirees don’t need to learn all of them, they should try and understand what their benefits could look like when they retire, to plan better and ensure they have enough income to cover their expenses once they’re done working. Here’s the average Social Security benefit at age 67.
Before discussing the average Social Security benefit at age 67, future and current retirees should understand how the Social Security program works and why claiming benefits at different ages affects the amount one will receive in retirement.
Retirees can begin claiming Social Security as early as age 62 and as late as age 70. There are trade-offs, of course. The earlier one claims benefits, the lower their monthly benefits will be, while the later one claims benefits, the higher their benefits will be. The Social Security Administration (SSA) attempts to provide every retiree with an equal level of benefits throughout their lifetime.
The benchmark age for those born in 1960 or later is 67, also known as the full retirement age (FRA). The FRA is the age at which one can receive the full amount of benefits they’re entitled to based on the SSA’s benefits formula, which is based on how many years one worked through their career, how much they earned — and therefore paid in Social Security taxes — and at what age they retire.
Each month that a retiree claims benefits in advance of their FRA results in benefits being reduced by a small percentage. If a retiree claims benefits as early as 62, they can see their retirement benefits lowered by as much as 30%.Conversely, for every month that a retiree puts off claiming benefits past their FRA, their benefits will increase by a certain percentage. Delaying as long as possible and claiming benefits at age 70 will result in Social Security benefits being increased by 24%.
Given that most people’s FRA is now 67, it’s a good idea for retirees to understand how much the average check at that age is. This will enable them to make rough calculations for how much their benefits would be lowered or increased based on the age at which they plan to claim Social Security.
