In any of the United States, choosing your retirement age is critical if you want to have a good Social Security benefit. The monthly retirement check depends on three key factors and one of them is the retirement age. For that reason, it is very important that we keep in mind all the time that we cannot take this decision lightly. If we want a good golden years with enough money to pay all the monthly bills, the retirement age is a very important point.
Besides retirement age, the other two factors for a good retirement check is the years worked and the salary during those years. The more money you contribute as a worker, the better Social Security you will have. Therefore, these two elements together with the retirement age mean that you can get up to $4,194 per month. Not a bad figure if we take into account the inflation of these years and how much it can cost to maintain an average life nowadays.
But if you still have doubts about choosing at what age it is best to apply for retirement, let’s see things a little clearer after this. Do you already know at what retirement age you are going to apply for the Social Security benefit?
Retirement age in Social Security
In order to know which is the best retirement age, it is necessary to know which are the main ages to apply for it. There are three moments that are usually the most important: 62 years, 67 years and 70 years. These three ages are the most common, but you can apply for retirement from the age of 62.
- Apply for retirement at age 62. This means a 30% reduction of the monthly benefit contributed. This change can be very important, since it will considerably reduce your Social Security payment.
- Retirement age at 67. If you apply for Social Security at age 67, you will receive 100% of your benefit contributions. All your years of work will be rewarded in the form of a retirement check. You will not see a discount in your monthly amount.
- Retire at age 70. From age 67 to 70 you will see a huge increase in your Social Security benefit. Each year worked from age 67 to 70 will greatly increase your benefit. This way you can get the maximum benefit of $4,194 per month.
By controlling these elements to the maximum you will be able to get your benefits in a better way. You can also look for a source of extra income if you think your Social Security benefit is not large enough to pay for all your expenses.