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"Find Your Real Social Security Retirement Age" (from Dolans.com):

http://www.dolans.com/article/72770/
Find-Your-Real-Social-Security-Retirement-Age/

"One of the keys to maximizing your Social Security benefits is to know your official Social Security retirement age.

This Social Security retirement age is the age at which you can start to receive your full Social Security benefit.

In order to lessen the strain on the system, the retirement age has been going up in small increments so that younger workers must wait longer to start receiving full benefits.

The government's plan might not be working though! New data shows that there has been a spike in early retirement claims from seniors who lost their jobs in this recession.

If at all possible, we urge you to hold off on claiming your benefits until you reach your full Social Security retirement age. Doing so will mean much bigger paychecks for the rest of your life.

You lose 25% of your benefits if you start taking benefits at age 62 rather than waiting if your full retirement age is 65! 25% less is a LOT of money!

Better yet, delay claiming your Social Security benefits until you are 67 if possible. Doing so will mean you get as much as 132% more in benefits!

Use this chart to find your full Social Security retirement age so you can maximize your income by claiming your benefits at the right time..."

Social Security Chart:

Year of Birth Normal Retirement Age
1937 and prior 65
1938 65 and 2 months
1939 65 and 4 months
1940 65 and 6 months
1941 65 and 8 months
1942 65 and 10 months
1943-54 66
1955 66 and 2 months
1956 66 and 4 months
1957 66 and 6 months
1958 66 and 8 months
1959 66 and 10 months
1960 and later 67

Source: Social Security Administration

With all due respect to Dolans.com, please realize that if, for example, you elected to take $1333 per month at age 66 as compared to $1000 per month at age 62; the following would be the result when you reach age 72 (under both scenarios):

$1000 per month for 10 years (age 62 to 72)= $120,000 in total payments

$1333 per month for 6 years (age 66 to age 72= $95,976 in total payments

So...you might get "bigger paychecks" if you wait till age 66, but you will (a) get nothing for 4 years before they begin, (b) give up $48,000 while you are waiting, and (c) wind up with over $24,000 less in total!

The bottom line is this: In order to "benefit more" by waiting until you are 66 (assuming you are eligible to start collecting at age 62), you would have to live past age 78.

- Ed Smith, Publisher
The EHS Letter Manual