Ask Larry

What Month Can I Start My Retirement Benefits And Continue To Work With No Reduction In Benefits?

I am full retirement age as of June 10, DOB 6/10/1955. What month should my retirement start since I want to continue to work with no reduction in benefits.

Hi. You could claim your benefits effective with as early as August 2021 without losing any benefits due to the Social Security earnings test. Full retirement age (FRA) for people born in 1955 is 66 & 2 months.

If you start drawing your benefits effective with August, your benefit rate will be equal to 100% of your primary insurance amount (PIA). But, you could wait until as late as age 70 to start collecting your Social Security retirement benefits, and for each month from FRA until age 70 that you don't collect benefits your benefit rate would increase by 2/3rds of 1%. Thus, if you waited all the way until age 70 to start drawing your retirement benefits, your monthly benefit rate would be equal to roughly 1.3066 times your PIA. Or, in other words, waiting until age 70 to start collecting would raise your benefit rate by 30.66%.

Your best filing strategy depends on a number of different factors, so you should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Sep 16 2021 - 12:02pm
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