Cat DeFazio Smith
June 3, 2025
Social Security offers a wide variety of benefits and services to individuals of all ages, just one of which is the opportunity for workers to start collecting their retirement benefits at age 62. This is known as “Social Security Early Retirement,” and if you choose to take early retirement, then Social Security will reduce your benefit amount based on the number of months you will be receiving benefits before reaching full retirement age.
If you are wondering what this means, here is an example to help you: the chart below was taken directly from Social Security’s webpage, and it shows a wide range of benefit amounts, including an individual with a full retirement age of 66 receiving a 25% reduction in benefits if they chose to retire early at age 62. Therefore, this individual would be receiving 75% of the monthly benefit they would have received if they had waited until full retirement age. Please refer to this chart for even more examples of how Social Security calculates your benefit reduction.
(benefits based on a $1,000 primary insurance amount)
| Year of birth | Normal (or full) retirement age | Number of reduction months | Primary | Spouse | ||
| Amount | Percent reduction | Amount | Percent reduction | |||
| 1937 or earlier | 65 | 36 | $800 | 20.00% | $375 | 25.00% |
| 1938 | 65 and 2 months | 38 | 791 | 20.83% | 370 | 25.83% |
| 1939 | 65 and 4 months | 40 | 783 | 21.67% | 366 | 26.67% |
| 1940 | 65 and 6 months | 42 | 775 | 22.50% | 362 | 27.50% |
| 1941 | 65 and 8 months | 44 | 766 | 23.33% | 358 | 28.33% |
| 1942 | 65 and 10 months | 46 | 758 | 24.17% | 354 | 29.17% |
| 1943-1954 | 66 | 48 | 750 | 25.00% | 350 | 30.00% |
| 1955 | 66 and 2 months | 50 | 741 | 25.83% | 345 | 30.83% |
| 1956 | 66 and 4 months | 52 | 733 | 26.67% | 341 | 31.67% |
| 1957 | 66 and 6 months | 54 | 725 | 27.50% | 337 | 32.50% |
| 1958 | 66 and 8 months | 56 | 716 | 28.33% | 333 | 33.33% |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months | 58 | 708 | 29.17% | 329 | 34.17% |
| 1960 and later | 67 | 60 | 700 | 30.00% | 325 | 35.00% |
If you currently have an open Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claim and are considering early retirement, you may also be wondering how this would affect your SSDI claim. Simply put, you would be able to receive the reduced retirement benefits while you are waiting for the decision on Social Security Disability benefits. The monthly SSDI benefits are likely to be higher than the early retirement benefit because it will not be subject to the benefit reduction. If you are awarded SSDI benefits, Social Security will pay you the higher benefit.
Please let us know if you ever have questions about your SSDI benefits or about how other benefits you collect could impact what you may receive from Social Security.
Nothing in this post is intended as advice or a suggestion to elect or not elect to claim benefits of any kind, including Social Security benefits, nor is it intended as financial advice in any way. The decision to claim benefits is a personal one that is contingent upon each individual’s unique circumstances.
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