If you were born in 1960 or later, the age at which you can collect full Social Security benefits is 67.
That is not a rumor or a proposal from Washington.
It is already written into law, and it has been phasing in for years under a schedule Congress passed back in 1983.
Here is what that means in plain dollars.
You can still start benefits at 62, but the check is permanently reduced.
Claim at 62 with a full retirement age of 67 and you are looking at roughly 30 percent less per month, for the rest of your life.
Wait until 70 instead, and the monthly amount grows by about 8 percent for every year you delay past your full retirement age.
The trade-off is simple math, not mystery.
Claiming early gives you more checks but smaller ones.
Waiting gives you fewer checks but larger ones.
Break-even usually lands somewhere in your late 70s to early 80s, depending on your health, your other income, and whether you keep working.
Working while collecting adds another wrinkle.
Before full retirement age, there is an earnings test.
Earn above the annual limit and Social Security temporarily withholds part of your benefit.
It gets recalculated into a higher payment once you reach full retirement age, but it can surprise people who expected a full check every month.
Married couples have more room to plan than they often realize.
A lower-earning spouse can sometimes claim on the higher earner's record, and survivor benefits can be worth far more than people assume.
Divorced spouses married 10 years or more may also qualify on an ex's record.
They are standard rules most people never read.
Pull your earnings statement at ssa.gov and check it for errors, because mistakes happen and they cost real money.
Then look at your full retirement age, your health, your debts, and whether you plan to keep working.
If you are married, run the numbers as a couple, not as two separate people.
One more thing worth knowing: Social Security's trust fund faces a projected shortfall in the mid-2030s.
That does not mean the program disappears.
It means that without changes, an estimated 75 to 80 percent of scheduled benefits could still be paid from ongoing payroll taxes.
Anyone promising you a specific fix, or a specific cut, is guessing.
Our take: treat your claiming age as one of the biggest financial decisions you will ever make, because it usually is.
A few hundred dollars a month compounds over a 20-year retirement into tens of thousands.
Final Thoughts
Spend an afternoon with your numbers before you spend a decade living with the wrong choice.