There’s a New Retirement Age for U.S. Citizens Born After 1960!

YourBlackWorld.net, By Victor Trammell, Posted May 9th 2022

For older Americans, there is some good news: the Social Security full retirement age will rise again in 2022 for certain people – but this will be the last year that the age will rise.

This year, the full retirement age — the age at which individuals are eligible to receive their whole Social Security benefit — was raised to 67 for those born in 1960. (and who will turn 62 this year). Unless there are any more legislative changes, the full retirement age for anyone born after 1960 will remain 67 beginning this year.

Congress changed the full retirement age in 1983 as part of a package of reforms aimed at bolstering the program’s finances. In doing so, legislators stressed the better health of senior Americans and increased life expectancy.

Employees may begin receiving payments when they reach the age of 62, irrespective of their actual retirement age, but there is a price to pay: Benefits are reduced by 5/9 of 1% every month until full retirement age is reached, up to a ceiling of three years. If the duration is longer than three years (or 36 months), the payoff is reduced by 5% /12 of one percent every month.

If someone decides to claim Social Security at the age of 62, for example, their monthly income will be reduced by 30%. Social Security recipients received the greatest benefit rise in over four decades in 2022, representing the worst inflation since 1982.

The Social Security Administration issued a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, last year. According to the government, this corresponds to a $92 monthly increase for the average retired person, putting the total to $1,657. Benefits for an average couple would rise by $154 per month to $2,754.

The move will impact almost 70 million people, including Social Security recipients, disabled veterans, and federal retirees. Nearly half of retirees live in households where Social Security benefits represent about half of their income, and around a quarter of seniors rely on the monthly payment for almost all of their earnings.

The hike, which is the greatest since 1982, when recipients got a 7.4 percent raise, puts a stop to years of meager COLA increases owing to low inflation. Over the previous 12 years, the average COLA increase has been merely 1.4 percent. Participants received a 1.3 percent rise in 2021 or around $20 per month more for retirees.