Claiming Social Security at 62? You May Need to Rethink That.
The Social Security Administration is pretty flexible when it comes to letting seniors sign up for benefits. You can file for Social Security as early as age 62, or delay your filing until age 70. In fact, you technically don't have to claim benefits once you turn 70, but there's no financial incentive to postpone your filing any longer.
Now since this is the case, you may be thinking, "What's the downside of filing at 62?"
But actually, there's a big one. If you sign up for benefits before full retirement age (FRA), which is either 66, 67, or 66 and a specific number of months, depending on the year you were born, you'll reduce them on a permanent basis. Filing for benefits at age 64, for example, will shrink your benefits by 20% if your FRA is 67. Meanwhile, filing at 62 will result in the greatest reduction possible in that scenario -- a cut of 30%.
Source Fool.com
