Claiming early locks in a smaller check for life; waiting grows it. See which age pays the most given how long you expect to live.
Compares claiming Social Security at 62, full retirement age, and 70 to find which start age produces the largest lifetime total for your life expectancy.
Claiming before full retirement age (FRA) permanently reduces your benefit by 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months early, then 5/12 of 1% per month beyond that. Waiting past FRA earns delayed retirement credits of 8% per year up to age 70. This tool applies those rules to your primary insurance amount (PIA) to show the monthly check at each age.
Claiming early gives more checks but smaller ones, while delaying gives fewer but larger checks, so the crossover depends on how long you collect. The optimizer multiplies each monthly benefit by the months from that claim age to your life expectancy and picks the highest cumulative total. Because it ignores spousal benefits, taxes, cost-of-living adjustments, and the time value of money, treat the output as a starting point and not financial advice.
For people born in 1960 or later it is 67, with earlier birth years phasing down toward 66. The Social Security Administration statement lists yours.
Not necessarily, since delaying only pays off if you live long enough to collect the larger benefit. Health, other income, and spousal needs all matter.
No, it models only your own retirement benefit. Couples should consider coordinated strategies with a qualified advisor.
See the exact formula and a worked example on our methodology page.