I turned 66 in August of this year. I am self employed and decided to retire as of November 1. I don't want to start receiving retirement benefits until age 66 and 6 months. My question is, if I am not working now and not receiving any income, do I still get delayed retirement credit for those six months or do you only get credits if you are still working and making money?
Thank you.

Hi,

Yes, you'll get delayed retirement credits (DRC) for each month that you defer taking your retirement benefits between full retirement age (FRA) and age 70 regardless of whether or not you're working. However, if you file between FRA and age 70 you will initially only be credited with the number of DRCs you earned through December of the year prior to your month of entitlement. Any DRCs accrued for the year in which you claim benefits aren't credited until effective with the following January. So, for example, if your month of entitlement was February 2019 you would initially be credited only with DRCs you earned through December 2018. Your benefit rate would then be recalculated at a later date to add the additional DRC for the month of January 2019 effective with your benefit payment for January 2020.

Before deciding when to start drawing benefits, though, you should strongly consider using our software to explore and compare your options. There are a number of factors to be considered, and you'll want to make sure that you choose the best possible filing strategy.

Best, Jerry