Investing Retirement Planning Social Security How Early Retirement Affects Your Social Security Benefits By Michael Rubin Michael Rubin Michael Rubin is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with more than 25 years of experience in the retirement planning, investment strategy, and tax planning industries. He also holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. learn about our editorial policies Updated on May 31, 2022 Reviewed by Michael J Boyle Reviewed by Michael J Boyle Michael Boyle is an experienced financial professional with more than 10 years working with financial planning, derivatives, equities, fixed income, project management, and analytics. learn about our financial review board In This Article View All In This Article Your Birth Year and Your FRA FRA of 65 FRA of 66 FRA of 67 FRAs of 66 Years and Some Months Photo: Tetra Images / Getty Images Early retirement can have a big impact on how your monthly Social Security benefit is calculated. For Social Security purposes, an early retirement occurs when you start claiming your benefit prior to your full retirement age (FRA), which the Social Security Administration (SSA) also calls the normal retirement age. For every month you retire prior to your FRA, your payment is reduced by either 0.6%, 0.5%, or 0.4%. Key Takeaways Your full retirement age (FRA) is determined by the year in which you were born.The earlier you retire, the greater the reduction in your full retirement benefits.If you retire at age 62 instead of your FRA, your benefits could be reduced by as much as 30%.To get your full benefits, you should wait to retire until you reach your FRA, which could be age 67 if you were born in 1960 or later. Your Birth Year and Your FRA Your FRA is determined by the year in which you were born. If you were born in 1937 or earlier, your FRA is 65. If you were born from 1943 to 1954, your FRA is 66. If you were born in 1960 or after, your FRA is 67. If you were born from 1938 to 1942, your FRA is 65 years and some months, with two months added for each year after 1937. So if you were born in 1938, your FRA is 65 years and two months. If you were born in 1939, your FRA is 65 years and four months. The addition of two months goes until 1942. The FRA for those with that birth year is 65 years and 10 months. Similarly, if you were born from 1955 to 1959, your FRA is 66 years and some months, with two months added for each year after 1954. So if you were born in 1955, your FRA is 66 years and two months. If you were born in 1956, your FRA is 66 years and four months. The addition of two months continues until 1959; the FRA for those with that birth year is 66 years and 10 months. Note If you were born on the first day of a month, the SSA considers you to have been born in the previous month. That means if you were born on January 1, the SSA considers you to have been born in the previous year. FRA of 65 The cohort of people whose FRA is 65 have all reached that age and are all now eligible to receive their full monthly payment. If they retired before 65, their monthly benefit was reduced by the percentages below at each listed retirement age. 62: 20%62 + 1 month: 19.4%62 + 2 months: 18.9%62 + 3 months: 18.3%62 + 4 months: 17.8%62 + 5 months: 17.2%62 + 6 months: 16.7%62 + 7 months: 16.1%62 + 8 months: 15.6%62 + 9 months: 15%62 + 10 months: 14.4%62 + 11 months: 13.9%63: 13.3%63 + 1 month: 12.8%63 + 2 months: 12.2%63 + 3 months: 11.7%63 + 4 months: 11.1%63 + 5 months: 10.6%63 + 6 months: 10%63 + 7 months: 9.4%63 + 8 months: 8.9%63 + 9 months: 8.3%63 + 10 months: 7.8%63 + 11 months: 7.2%64: 6.7%64 + 1 month: 6.1%64 + 2 months: 5.6%64 + 3 months: 5%64 + 4 months: 4.4%64 + 5 months: 3.9%64 + 6 months: 3.3%64 + 7 months: 2.8%64 + 8 months: 2.2%64 + 9 months: 1.7%64 + 10 months: 1.1%64 + 11 months: 0.6% FRA of 66 The cohort of people whose FRA is 66 exactly have all reached that age. If these people retired early, their monthly payment was reduced by the percentages below at each listed retirement age. 62: 25%62 + 1 month: 24.6%62 + 2 months: 24.2%62 + 3 months: 23.7%62 + 4 months: 23.3%62 + 5 months: 22.9%62 + 6 months: 22.5%62 + 7 months: 22.1%62 + 8 months: 21.7%62 + 9 months: 21.2%62 + 10 months: 20.8%62 + 11 months: 20.4%63: 20%63 + 1 month: 19.4%63 + 2 months: 18.9%63 + 3 months: 18.3%63 + 4 months: 17.8%63 + 5 months: 17.2%63 + 6 months: 16.7%63 + 7 months: 16.1%63 + 8 months: 15.6%63 + 9 months: 15.0%63 + 10 months: 14.4%63 + 11 months: 13.9%64: 13.3%64 + 1 month: 12.8%64 + 2 months: 12.2%64 + 3 months: 11.7%64 + 4 months: 11.1%64 + 5 months: 10.6%64 + 6 months: 10%64 + 7 months: 9.4%64 + 8 months: 8.9%64 + 9 months: 8.3%64 + 10 months: 7.8%64 + 11 months: 7.2%65: 6.7%65 + 1 month: 6.1%65 + 2 months: 5.6%65 + 3 months: 5%65 + 4 months: 4.4%65 + 5 months: 3.90%65 + 6 months: 3.3%65 + 7 months: 2.8%65 + 8 months: 2.2%65 + 9 months: 1.7%65 + 10 months: 1.1%65 + 11 months: 0.6% FRA of 67 If a person in the cohort of people whose FRA is 67 plans to retire early, their monthly payment will be reduced by the percentages below at each listed retirement age. 62: 30%62 + 1 month: 29.6%62 + 2 months: 29.2%62 + 3 months: 28.7%62 + 4 months: 28.3%62 + 5 months: 27.9%62 + 6 months: 27.5%62 + 7 months: 27.1%62 + 8 months: 26.7%62 + 9 months: 26.2%62 + 10 months: 25.8%62 + 11 months: 25.4%63: 25%63 + 1 month: 24.6%63 + 2 months: 24.2%63 + 3 months: 23.7%63 + 4 months: 23.3%63 + 5 months: 22.9%63 + 6 months: 22.5%63 + 7 months: 22.1%63 + 8 months: 21.7%63 + 9 months: 21.2%63 + 10 months: 20.8%63 + 11 months: 20.4%64: 20%64 + 1 month: 19.4%64 + 2 months: 18.9%64 + 3 months: 18.3%64 + 4 months: 17.8%64 + 5 months: 17.2%64 + 6 months: 16.7%64 + 7 months: 16.1%64 + 8 months: 15.6%64 + 9 months: 15%64 + 10 months: 14.4%64 + 11 months: 13.9%65: 13.3%65 + 1 month: 12.8%65 + 2 months: 12.2%65 + 3 months: 11.7%65 + 4 months: 11.1%65 + 5 months: 10.6%65 + 6 months: 10%65 + 7 months: 9.4%65 + 8 months: 8.9%65 + 9 months: 8.3%65 + 10 months: 7.8%65 + 11 months: 7.2%66: 6.7%66 + 1 month: 6.1%66 + 2 months: 5.6%66 + 3 months: 5%66 + 4 months: 4.4%66 + 5 months: 3.9%66 + 6 months: 3.3%66 + 7 months: 2.8%66 + 8 months: 2.2%66 + 9 months: 1.7%66 + 10 months: 1.1%66 + 11 months: 0.6% FRAs of 66 Years and Some Months If you were born in 1955 and plan to retire early, you can visit SSA's retirement planning tool to determine how much your monthly benefit will be reduced by based on your retirement age. To calculate the reduction in benefit, subtract the "reduced to" percentage from 100. For the same information for birth years from 1956 to 1959, replace 1955 in the SSA tool with that birth year. The cohort of people born from 1938 to 1942 have all reached their FRA and are all now eligible to receive their full monthly benefit. If you still want to access information on monthly payment reductions for people born in one of those years, you can also replace 1955 in that URL with the birth year. Note You must be 62 for the entire month to begin receiving SSA payments in that month, so you will collect your first payment in the month after your birthday. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Social Security Administration. "Benefits Planner: Retirement: If You Were Born in 1960 Your Full Retirement Age Is 67." Social Security Administration. "Benefits by Year of Birth." Social Security Administration. "Benefits Planner: Retirement: If You Were Born in 1937 Your Full Retirement Age Is 65." Social Security Administration. "Benefits Planner: Retirement: If You Were Born Between 1943 and 1954 Your Full Retirement Age Is 66." Social Security Administration. "Benefits Planner: Retirement: If You Were Born in 1960 Your Full Retirement Age Is 67."