People are very confused about the term FRA or Full Retirement Age, so we will try and explain. There is not just one age which Social Security considers full retirement age, as it depends on when you were born.

The reason for the term FRA is to define for you what age you are eligible for a 100% benefit amount from your lifetime earnings record. That age use to be 65 until 1983 when Congress changed the law to slightly increase the FRA for people born in 1938 and later. According to current law, if you were born between 1943 and 1954 you have a FRA of age 66. The age for those born after 1954 increases by 2 months for each year between 1955 and 1960 when a maximum age of for FRA is 67. FRA then stays at 67 for anyone born after 1960.

Persons born on the first day of the year, for FRA purposes, are considered to have been born in the previous year. This can be very confusing.

Because the law use to be age 65 for FRA, we get calls and consistently have clients that still think they will receive their 100% benefit at age 65 – NOT SO! They will go to the Social Security office and think they can kill two birds with one stone – file for Medicare and Social Security all at one time. You can do this if you wish, but please be aware of the lifetime consequences. By filing at age 65, you have eliminated delayed retirement credits, claiming strategies to improve your benefit amount, reduced your survivor benefit, and reduced potential income potential because you now will have to adhere to Earnings Limitations rules and regulations.

Hope this makes the muddy water a little clearer.

Call Pillars LLC at 601-954-0699 and Roy and Diane will help you with these decisions and show you how to maximize your benefit and accomplish your personal goals. They are both National Social Security Advisors and Roy is a former CPA of 40+ years. We are in Corinth but service clients in all 50 states.