Full retirement
The age was 65 for a long time but it has changed.

For people born in 1938 or later retirement age gradually increases until it reaches 67 for people born after 1959.

If you were born on January 1st of any year you must refer to the previous year.

For those born between 1943 and 1954

Your full retirement age is 66

The earliest you can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits is age 62.

The rates change the earlier that you retire.
It is on a sliding scale determined by the month.

It's not so bad if you are almost retirement age but the sooner you retire the less you get.

if you do decide to retire at 62 you will get 75% of the monthly benefit. You will be getting benefits for an additional 48 months.

If you can wait till age 65 you'll get 93.3% of the monthly benefit. You will be getting benefits for an additional 12 months.

Benefits as a Spouse

If you start receiving benefits as a spouse at your full retirement age, you will get 50% of the monthly benefit your spouse would receive if his or her benefits started at full retirement age.

If you start receiving benefits at 62 you'll only get 35% of the monthly benefit, but at 65 you'll be able to get 45.8%.

If you were born in

Year	Retirement age	At 65	At 62
1955	66 + 2 mos.	92.2%	74.2%
1956	66 + 4 mos.	91.1%	73.3%
1957	66 + 6 mos.	90%	72.5%
1958	66 + 8 mos.	88.9%	71.7%
1959	66 + 10 Mos.	87.8%	70.8%
1960	67	86.7	70%
1960 +	67	86.7%	70%
Spouse Benefits are 50% at your full retirement age
Year		At 65	At 62
1955		41.1%	34.6
1956		44.4%	34.2%
1957		43.8%	33.8%
1958		43.1%	33.3%
1959		42.4%	32.9%
1960		41.7	32.5
1960 +		41.7	32.5

disclaimer