Planning for your retirement is a lifelong endeavor. Throughout your working career, you will pay a portion of your earnings into the dedicated Social Security payroll tax. This will earn you work credits, which will later allow you to claim benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) once you retire. Benefits can be claimed from the SSA starting at age 62, however, this will be considered as claiming early and you will be subject to a reduction in benefits of up to 30%. The age at which you qualify for your full benefits is called the Full Retirement Age, and if you delay claiming until you are 70, you will qualify for up to 124% of your benefit.
At present, the full retirement age stands at 66-67 as it has been gradually increasing in two month increments since the 1983 amendments to the Social Security program. Once the retirement age reaches 67 in 2026, it would no longer increase. Now due to the projected insolvency of a major source of funding to the program, speculation that the retirement age will be increased further has been circulating. The SSA Commissioner recently stated that it was under consideration during an interview, but later walked back that statement. Here is everything you need to know.
What is the Full Retirement Age?
When the Social Security program was first introduced, the full retirement age was 65. This meant that if you began claiming benefits at age 65, you would receive the full amount you were entitled to (this is calculated relative to your lifetime earnings). In 1983, however, it was decided that the retirement age will be increased in two month increments until it reaches 67. This was done in order to save the financial health of the program, as well as to account for growing life expectancy. In 2025, the retirement age rose to 66 years and 10 months for those born in 1959. In 2026, it will rise to 67 years for those born in 1960 and later. Following this, no increases will be implemented — barring any intervention from Congress.
If you claim before retirement age, your benefits will be locked in with a reduction of up to 30%, depending on how many months there are before you reach full retirement age. Conversely, if you delay claiming beyond your full retirement age, you will earn delayed retirement credits. For each year you delay until you are 70, you will receive an addition 8% of benefits. This means that if you claim at 70, you will be entitled to up to 124% of your benefit.
Is raising the retirement age on the table?
The OASI trust fund which is used in part to pay benefits is projected to become insolvent by 2033, triggering an automatic 23% cut to benefits. As such, lawmakers are currently debating possible solutions to prevent this. During a recent interview with Fox Business, SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano stated that “everything’s being considered” when asked if raising the retirement age was on the table. Bisignano later walked back his statement via a post on X that read as follows: “Let me be clear: President Trump and I will always protect, and never cut, Social Security. That’s why we have made many vital reforms, such as cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from the program, to ensure the solvency of Social Security for future generations of Americans. Raising the retirement age is not under consideration.”
Due to a disproportionate ratio of workers to retirees, the program has had to rely more on revenue from its trust funds resulting in the projected shortfall. If the retirement age is further increased, it will likely be done gradually and as such, the impact would be felt mainly by the current cohort of younger workers who are in their 30s or 40s. Alternate solutions include raising the wage cap or means-testing higher earners, however, no single proposal has the capacity to solve this financial crisis.