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Age 62 is a significant one in the context of Social Security. The reason? It’s the earliest age to sign up for monthly benefits.
In fact, 62 has long been the most popular age for claiming Social Security because many seniors either don’t want to wait to get their money or can’t afford to wait.
A lot of people inevitably end up out of work once they reach their early 60s. Since so many older Americans don’t have retirement savings, many are forced to claim Social Security as early as possible so they have a way to cover their bills once they’ve stopped working.
But while 62 may be an important age for Social Security, there’s another key age you should know about — full retirement age, or FRA.
FRA isn’t a single age. Rather, it’s based on the year you were born. However, it’s important to know your FRA, since that’s when you’re able to collect your monthly Social Security benefits in full without a reduction.
You should also know that changes to FRA may be on the horizon. That could have an impact on your retirement plans.
What’s happening to FRA in 2026?
FRA for Social Security has long been set in stone. For people born between 1943 and 1954, it was 66. It then began phasing upward.
If you were born between 1955 and 1959, your FRA is 66 and a specific number of months. If you were born in 1960 or later, FRA is 67.
Social Security’s FRA is not changing per se in 2026. Rather, it’s that people who are turning 66 in 2026 will not be eligible to claim their Social Security benefits without a reduction. That’s because people turning 66 next year have an FRA of 67.
It’s important to recognize that, because claiming Social Security even one year early could mean reducing your benefits by about 6.67% for life. That could be very problematic if you don’t have a lot of retirement savings to use as supplemental income.
Is FRA going to change again?
At this time, there are no changes to FRA to know about. However, you should be aware that lawmakers have discussed the possibility of pushing up FRA again to help address Social Security’s pending financial shortfall.
If you’ve been keeping tabs on Social Security, you’re probably aware that the program may have to cut benefits in about a decade unless lawmakers find a way to address a major funding gap. One solution to preventing benefit cuts is to raise Social Security’s FRA to 68 or 69 for younger workers.
This change has not been signed into law, and at this point, it’s really only talk. However, it’s a good idea to follow the news to see if this proposed change gets any closer to becoming reality. If lawmakers do make a change to FRA, it would most likely need to be phased in gradually.
It’s also not a given that lawmakers will continue discussing changes to FRA, since there are other potential solutions for addressing Social Security’s financial problems. These include raising or eliminating the wage cap that limits how much income is taxed for Social Security purposes and raising the Social Security tax rate on wages.