If you’re near or at the retirement benefit eligibility age of 62, you may wonder if you should claim benefits. Starting this month, current Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% increase in payments for 2023. Experts believe it’s often still preferable to wait.
If you apply for Social Security retirement benefits before the age of 62, your monthly payments will be decreased. People who are 63 this year will get the 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment. The COLA increases what is known as your primary insurance amount, which is the benefit due to you at full retirement age.
For current beneficiaries, the 8.7% COLA is calculated based on their benefit amount. Those who claimed Social Security early still get the same COLA rate, but with reduced benefit amounts. The longer you wait to claim, the bigger your benefit and the bigger COLA you will see (Konish, 2023).
To make up for the shortfall, they might have to tap their retirement investment portfolios for more money or rely on those assets to supplement their income.
Even if you are not yet eligible for benefits, you should review your Social Security statements on a regular basis to ensure that your earnings are appropriately reported.The longer you wait to claim benefits, the higher your benefit’s going to be and the higher the surviving spouse will get, he says. Starting no later than your late 50s may allow you to arrange for additional sources of retirement income.
