96% of Americans Lose Over $100,000 in Social Benefits. Are You One of Them?
According to a research study featured in Forbes, 96% of Americans Lose $111,000 in Social Security Benefits and it’s because they claim their benefits at the wrong time!
Claiming your social security benefits will be one of the most important financial decisions in your lifetime. Making Social Security claiming decisions the right way ensures you make the best choices for you and your family.
You receive your full retirement benefit (FRB) at your full retirement age (FRA), which varies with your year of birth.
For people considering claiming now, FRA is at least age 66. You can claim Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62, but you’ll receive only about 75% of your FRB.
For every 12 months, you wait to claim past full retirement age, you receive an 8% increase.
There are no increases for waiting past age 70.
Most people don’t wait until full retirement age to claim their benefits. Instead, in 2018, 35% claimed their benefits at age 62, and 25% at full retirement age.
Only 13% waited until age 67 or later. Usually, 5% or fewer wait to age 70 to claim benefits.
Recommended Read: Social Security Reforms Should Aim to Keep Beneficiaries Out of Poverty
Research shows that most people who’ve been retired for a while say one change they’d make is to delay their claims for Social Security retirement benefits.
Other research indicates people claim benefits early because they don’t have good information or because of the way the decision is framed, or described, to them.
Keep in mind that the retirement claiming decision isn’t the only Social Security decision many people will have. In married couples, after one spouse passes away the other must decide between claiming his or her own retirement benefits or survivor’s benefits.
Filing for your social security benefits will be one of the most important financial decisions of your life. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are at stake.
The only way to get the most out of your benefits is to get a customized social security analysis that considers everything, including your benefits, taxes, Medicare premiums, spousal benefits, required minimum distributions, and more.
