Here's Some Good News for Early Social Security Filers
You'll often hear that claiming Social Security early is a big mistake. The reason? You'll lock in a lower monthly benefit for life.
You're entitled to your full monthly Social Security benefit at full retirement age (FRA), which is either 66, 67, or 66 and a certain number of months, depending on the year in which you were born. And that benefit is calculated based on your personal wage history. For each month you claim Social Security ahead of FRA, your monthly benefit gets reduced.
But some seniors opt to take Social Security before FRA since that's a possibility beginning at age 62. Doing so means not only resigning yourself to a lower monthly benefit throughout retirement, but also potentially having benefits withheld if you're still working.
Source Fool.com
