Just wanted to add one more thing that might help with your decision timing - if you do decide to start collecting early, you can actually suspend your benefits later if your financial situation changes! Once you reach FRA, you can voluntarily suspend your benefits and earn delayed retirement credits (8% per year) until age 70. So starting at 62 isn't necessarily a permanent decision if you find you don't really need the money or want to maximize your monthly benefit later. Of course, you'd still deal with the earnings test headache until FRA, but it's good to know you have options. Also, definitely confirm with your payroll whether you're paying FICA taxes - that WEP concern someone mentioned earlier is real but only applies if you have a pension from non-Social Security covered employment.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that you might want to consider doing a "test run" with Social Security's online calculator at ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/estimator.html. You can plug in different claiming ages and see exactly how much your monthly benefit would be at 62 vs FRA vs 70. For your specific earnings situation, you could also call SSA and ask them to do a hypothetical calculation showing what would happen if you claimed at 62 with your current $26,400 annual income. They can tell you exactly how many months of benefits you'd lose due to the earnings test. This might help you decide if claiming early is worth it or if waiting until FRA makes more financial sense in your particular case.

Based on all the information you've shared, I strongly suspect this is related to the earnings test recalculation. Since you mentioned working part-time in 2023 but earning less than you initially estimated, this is almost certainly an adjustment payment. Here's what happens: When you work while receiving benefits before FRA, SSA withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 earned above the annual limit (which was $21,240 in 2023). They initially use your earnings estimate, but once your actual earnings are reported via W-2 forms, they recalculate. If you earned less than estimated, you get back some of the withheld benefits as a lump sum. Still worth confirming with SSA, but this is very likely what happened in your case.

This sounds very similar to what happened to me last year! I received an unexpected $487 payment that showed up as "one time payment" in my account with zero explanation. After finally getting through to SSA (took multiple attempts), they explained it was an earnings test adjustment from 2022. I had also worked part-time while collecting early retirement benefits and initially overestimated my earnings. When my actual W-2 was processed, they discovered I had earned less than projected, so they owed me back some of the benefits they had withheld. The timing was about 12-14 months after the tax year ended, which matches your situation. Definitely still call to confirm, but based on your description of working part-time in 2023 with lower actual earnings than estimated, this is almost certainly legitimate money you're entitled to keep. Just make sure to get written confirmation from SSA for your records!

Just to add a bit more clarity - these small adjustment payments are fairly common with survivor benefits specifically. When a person passes away, sometimes there are wage reports or earnings updates that come in months or even a year later. When that happens, SSA automatically recalculates the benefit amount based on the updated earnings record. If the recalculation shows you were owed a small additional amount, they'll issue a one-time payment like you received. For amounts under a certain threshold (I believe it's around $120-150), they often don't generate a letter to save on administrative costs. You could request an official explanation called a "BPQY" (Benefits Planning Query) which would show the exact reason, but honestly for $100 it might not be worth the hassle.

I'm dealing with something similar right now! Got a $87.32 payment last week that showed up completely unexpectedly. Like you, I checked my MySocialSecurity account and it just says "adjustment payment" with no other details. I've been getting survivor benefits for about 2 years now and this is the first time something like this happened. Reading through these comments is actually really reassuring - sounds like it's probably legitimate and related to some kind of recalculation or updated earnings info from my late spouse. Still might try that Claimyr service someone mentioned just to get peace of mind, but at least I'm not as worried about it being an error anymore. Thanks for posting this question - you're definitely not alone!

One important point that hasn't been mentioned: The COLA adjustments that are applied to your PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) starting at age 62 are the SAME percentages that current beneficiaries receive. So when current Social Security recipients got the 8.7% COLA for 2023, people who were eligible but not yet claiming ALSO had their future benefits increased by 8.7%. This applies regardless of when you plan to claim - whether that's 62, 67, 70, or anywhere in between.

This is such a helpful thread! I'm in a similar situation - turning 62 next year but planning to wait until my full retirement age. I had no idea that COLA increases were being applied to my future benefits starting at 62. This actually makes me feel much better about my decision to delay claiming. Does anyone know if there's a good resource that explains all the "hidden" benefits of delaying Social Security? It seems like there are advantages I'm not even aware of yet.

Just wanted to update on my earlier comment - I remembered something else that might help you. When I finally got through to SSA about my wrong account number, they told me I could go to my bank and see if they could help. My bank actually called SSA on a special line they have and helped resolve it in about a week. Might be worth asking your bank if they can help!

Similar situation, and I am missing my payments for 8 months now. I spent hours speaking with SSA people on the phone- every time they said- Ah! Found and fixed it, you'll get your payment within 2 weeks- never happened. I came to the office in person 2 times, same results. Lastly, I had fixed my account number on-line myself and the window showed both the current (incorrect) acct number and, the corrected acct number to be effective from today. I checked several times, last time yesterday- the window remained unchanged. Today I checked- no deposit! The window now is showing only the incorrect account number ... and if I will make new adjustments, the next available deposit date is 2 months from now....