Just turned 68, trying to decide if I should take my benefits now at $2100 monthly or wait 2 years and get $2,400 monthly . When or what month does the monthly benefit go up to the next level/dollar amount ? I don’t want to sign up in June for $2100 and find out if I waited till September, I could have received $2250. Thanks

Hi. If you start drawing Social Security retirement benefits at your full retirement age (FRA), your benefit rate is equal to 100% of your primary insurance amount (PIA). For each month that you wait past FRA to start drawing your benefits up to age 70, your rate goes up by 2/3rds of 1% (i.e. 8% per year). However, if you start drawing benefits between FRA and age 70, Social Security initially only gives you credit for any delayed retirement credits (DRC) that you earned through December of the year prior to the year you start collecting. Any DRCs earned in the year that you start drawing are subsequently credited effective with your payment for January of the year after the year you claimed benefits.

For example, if Tom files for benefits effective with April 2021 when he reaches age 68, he would initially be credited with the 21 DRCs he earned through December 2020. That would result in the same rate he'd have gotten if he'd filed effective with January 2021. However, effective with Tom's benefit rate for January 2022, he'd be credited with the additional 3 DRCs he earned for not drawing benefits for January through March 2021. So, from then on Tom's monthly rate would be roughly 2% higher than it would be if he had started drawing effective with January 2021.

You may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully explore all of you options so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry