Retirement Social Security

Turning 62 in 2026? 6 Things You Need to Understand About Social Security

See how claiming at 62 shapes your lifetime benefits.

By Katy Willis

Edited by Laura Hohenstein

Updated Dec. 11, 2025

Turning 62 in 2026? That birthday is more than cake and jokes about getting old. It is the first time you can tap into your Social Security benefit if you want to. The decision about when to claim can give you a permanently smaller or larger check.

You can absolutely claim at 62 if you need the money. But if you were born in 1964 and your full retirement age is 67, filing as soon as you can means signing up for a permanent pay cut. In some cases, that also impacts your spouse or future widow(er).

Rushing this decision could be a costly money mistake. Instead, use the run-up to your 62nd birthday as a checkpoint. Figure out if you can or should wait, or whether your needs make filing early unavoidable. Whatever your choice, make sure it's an informed one based on your retirement readiness.

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Know your full retirement age and base benefit

If you turn 62 in 2026, you were born in 1964. For anyone born in 1960 or later, their full retirement age (FRA) is 67. That's the age at which you get 100% of your Social Security benefit. The amount you receive is based on your highest 35 years of earnings history, and is also called your primary insurance amount (PIA). If you file at age 62 when your FRA is 67, you take around a 30% cut in your monthly benefit amount for life.

That's a significant drop. If your benefit amount at FRA is $2,000 per month, claiming at 62 means you'd get roughly $1,400 instead. That's a $600 monthly cut, or a reduction of $7,200 per year for as long as you live.

If, however, you can wait beyond full retirement age, you earn delayed retirement credits up to about 8% per year. If you waited until you reached 70, you'd get around 24% more than if you claimed at 67.

Based on our $2,000 at FRA example, if you waited until age 70, you'd get around $2,480 per month for life. That's $480 per month more than claiming at FRA, and approximately $1,080 more than if you file at age 62.

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Review your retirement plan

Social Security is built to pay you for as long as you live, with cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) along the way. So, the longer you live, the more valuable a bigger check becomes. If you're in reasonable health, the smartest move is to plan for a long retirement.

If you live into your late 80s or beyond, your choice of early filing or claiming at FRA becomes a choice between 25+ years of smaller payments or 20+ years of substantially larger ones. So, if you can, it may be best to delay filing until FRA or age 70.

However, if you have serious health issues or are at higher risk of a life-limiting condition, or are in significant financial need, filing early could be your best option, in spite of the lower lifetime monthly benefit.

Consider how you'll fund delaying your claim

If you do not claim at 62, how will you pay your bills and fund your lifestyle? If you plan for Social Security to be your main or only income, a 30% cut can really squeeze your budget.

If you have a pension, retirement account, spouse who is still working, or are still working yourself, this may not be an issue for you. With healthy retirement accounts, you could potentially retire and live off your savings until you reach FRA and essentially "buy" yourself a larger check for life.

But draining every dollar of savings just to delay filing for Social Security might not be a safe move either. To get a real idea of your benefit amount at different filing ages, use the calculators in your "my Social Security" account. This should help you make a more informed decision.

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Be honest about your immediate financial needs

While the theory is that waiting until 67 or beyond is the best course if you're in good health, real life may have other plans. If you get laid off and can't find new work that covers the income gap, for example, you still have to pay your bills somehow. Perhaps your health or mobility issues prevent you from working. Or perhaps you've got debt, medical bills, or you're having to care for ailing parents.

In these kinds of scenarios, claiming at 62 can be a lifeline, albeit a smaller one than you'd anticipated before life threw you one of these curveballs. If that's the best option for you, then don't force yourself to struggle or go into debt to avoid it. Claim your benefit, understand that you'll get a smaller check for the rest of your life, but that it's the right decision for your current circumstances.

Decide if you'll keep working after 62

You are allowed to work while collecting Social Security at the same time. But if you claim before your full retirement age and earn more than certain limits, Social Security will temporarily withhold part of your benefit. This is the retirement earnings test.

In 2026, if you are under FRA all year, you can earn up to $24,480 before any withholding kicks in. Above that, Social Security holds back $1 in benefits for every $2 that you earn. If you reach your full retirement age in 2026, you can earn up to $65,160. After that, $1 of your benefit for every $3 you earn is held back, but only until the start of the month you reach FRA.

When the earnings test ends, Social Security recalculates your benefit to give you credit for the months when the checks were held back. If you know you plan to keep earning well above the earnings test limit, it may make more sense to delay claiming retirement.

Consider your spouse, ex, and survivor benefits

If you are married or divorced, your claiming age does not just affect you. It can also shape what your spouse or future widow(er) may receive. At full retirement age, a spouse's or ex-spouse's benefit can be up to 50% of your full retirement amount. Survivor benefits can be up to 100% of what you were receiving or entitled to receive when you died.

If you are the higher earner and you file at 62, you accept a permanently smaller benefit amount. This caps what your spouse could get as a survivor later. Therefore, when planning a future together, it makes more sense for the higher earner to delay retirement at least until full retirement age to maximize what the surviving spouse can receive.

If you have an ex-spouse and you were married for at least ten years, there may be divorced spousal or survivor benefits in play, too.

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Bottom line

The most helpful thing you can do before you decide whether to file early is to sit down and look at your Social Security account. Look at your earnings history and correct any discrepancies in your 35 highest years. Decide whether actually staying at work for an extra year or two would let you replace a couple of lower-earning years in your top 35, as this can make a significant difference to your overall benefit.

Use the calculators in your account to see how much you'd get if you file at 62, 67, and 70. This is usually pretty eye-opening for most people. Consider your health, who the higher earner is in your household, and your work, pension, and savings situation. Once you've got the full picture, you can finalize your retirement plan.

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