A Baby Boomer’s Age-Old Question
More than 91% of current retirees receive monthly benefits from the government program known as Social Security. The program is very important to seniors, as nearly three out of five retirees receive at least half of their income from Social Security, reports Todd Ratner in BusinessWest magazine.
Furthermore, pensions and other related safety nets that were once commonplace have and continue to disappear from the workplace. As such, it is imperative that individuals understand their options as to when they should commence receiving Social Security retirement benefits.
Individuals must wait until their full retirement age in order to draw non-reduced Social Security benefits. For Baby Boomers (defined as those born between 1943 and 1954), full retirement age is at age 66. The threshold is increasing gradually until it hits 67 for workers born in or after 1960. However, an individual may elect to receive Social Security retirement benefits at age 62, which is what approximately one-half of workers do elect. But if an individual elects to receive benefits at age 62, there will be a permanent reduction in the amount of monthly benefits the individual can receive.
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Category: Boomer Lifestyle, Money & Work
