Financial Tip of the Month

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David Edge

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Full Social Security benefits start when?
Most folks think their full Social Security monthly benefit starts at age 66. You can start it as early as age 62. Well, that used to be correct!

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As of January 1, 2017, full Social Security retirement age is 66 and 2 months, for folks born after 1954! These additional months keep growing over the next several years in order to receive your full retirement benefits, depending on your birth year.

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We’ve made a chart to assist you in revealing the year and month for full retirement benefits. One of the reasons this is important, it’s when you reach full retirement age for Social Security benefits, this is also the same time you can collect Social Security benefits and make as much income as you wish with no penalty.

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What you may not know is that while you can activate your Social Security benefits at age 62, for every year you take it early from your full retirement, your benefits will be less each year accumulatively. The difference in your benefits between age 62 until age 66 can be as much as 33%! So, if your benefits at age 66 will be $1,000 per month, your benefits at age 62 could be as low as $670 a month. Over a year, that difference is almost $4,000 a year. That’s not pocket change!

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If you decide to wait, your Social Security benefits will grow by 8% a year. Using the same example of $1,000 per month at 66, that amount would grow to approximately $1,320 a month. Over a year that difference would be another $4,000. Between age 62 and age 70, the yearly difference is approximately  $8,000 a year in Social Security benefits.

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There are differing opinions about when exactly to take your Social Security benefits, but with an experienced planner, the calculations can be made quickly and accurately and then you can make a “Fact-Based Decision”!

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Register today for our FREE monthly workshop on Social Security Benefits and get educated on when and how you can maximize your options for what is most appropriate for you! Call us we can help!