Social Security FRA question - Will selecting Feb 1 retirement date before 67th birthday on Feb 20 reduce my benefits?
I'm reaching my full retirement age (FRA) of 67 on February 20th this year, and I want to make sure I don't mess up my Social Security application. If I select February 1st as my retirement date (about 3 weeks before my actual birthday), will that reduce my benefit amount at all? Or do I have to wait and select March 1st to ensure I get my full retirement benefit? The SSA website is confusing me on this point. I don't want to lose money by starting benefits too early, even if it's just by a few weeks, but I also don't want to wait longer than necessary. Thanks for any clarity!
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Miguel Ramos
You're asking a really good question about the exact timing of benefits at FRA. Social Security considers you to have attained your age for the entire month of your birthday. So when you turn 67 on February 20th, Social Security treats you as if you were 67 for the entire month of February. This means you can safely choose February 1st as your start date without any reduction in benefits. You'll receive your full retirement benefit amount with no penalties.
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Ava Thompson
•Oh that's such a relief! I was worried about losing even a small percentage of my benefit. Thank you for explaining this so clearly.
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Zainab Ibrahim
my wife went through this last year!!! she picked the month BEFORE her birthday and they REDUCED her check by like 0.5% or something!!!! make SURE you talk to someone at SSA directly before you apply!!!!! the rules are IMPOSSIBLE to understand and they change them without telling anyone!!!
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Miguel Ramos
•I think there might be some confusion here. If your wife was applying before her Full Retirement Age, then yes, even being one month early would cause a reduction. But the original poster is talking about reaching their FRA of 67, and in that specific situation, they can start benefits in their birthday month (February) without reduction because SSA considers you to have attained your age for the entire month of your birthday.
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StarSailor
This is actually one of the few user-friendly rules with Social Security! You're considered to be your FRA for the entire month of your birthday. So you can definitely select February 1 without any reduction. I actually did exactly this when I turned 66 (my FRA was 66) back in 2023, and I got my full benefit amount. No need to wait until March!
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Ava Thompson
•Thanks for sharing your experience! It's reassuring to hear from someone who's been through exactly this situation.
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Connor O'Brien
I had a nightmare reaching SSA to ask this exact question last year. I spent 3 hours on hold only to get disconnected, then tried for 5 days to get through. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to connect with a live SSA agent in about 20 minutes. They confirmed what others are saying - you're considered FRA for your entire birth month. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - saved me days of frustration.
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Yara Sabbagh
•Never heard of this service before. Does it actually work? I've been trying to reach SSA for weeks about my husband's application.
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Connor O'Brien
•Yes, it did work for me. Saved hours of waiting on hold. The agent confirmed I could start benefits in my birth month with no reduction.
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Keisha Johnson
im confused about something here. if your turning 67 in feb why not just wait til 70 for the delayed credits? my brother waited til 70 and gets a lot more money. just sayin
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Miguel Ramos
•That's certainly an option and waiting until 70 gives you an 8% increase per year (so about 24% more than at FRA). But that's a personal decision based on financial needs, health, and other circumstances. The original question was specifically about selecting February 1st vs. March 1st when turning 67 in February, not about delaying benefits further.
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Ava Thompson
•I've actually thought about waiting longer, but I have some health concerns and want to make sure I enjoy some retirement while I'm still feeling relatively good. It's definitely a personal decision as the previous commenter mentioned.
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Paolo Rizzo
So if I'm understanding this right, this thing where you're considered your FRA age for the whole month only applies to the month you actually reach FRA? Like if someone's turning 67 in February, they're considered 67 for all of February, but NOT for January, right? Just double-checking because I'm hitting FRA next year.
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Miguel Ramos
•Correct. The rule only applies to your birth month. If you applied in January when your birthday is in February, you would be considered one month early and would have a slight reduction (about 0.56% for one month). But once you reach your birth month, you're considered to be your full retirement age for that entire month.
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Ava Thompson
Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I'm going to go ahead and select February 1st as my start date. One more question - does this same rule apply for Medicare? I already signed up for that when I turned 65.
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StarSailor
•Medicare has a similar but slightly different rule. If you were born on the 1st day of the month, your Medicare would start the month before your birthday month. For all other birthdays, Medicare coverage starts on the 1st day of your birthday month. So for your February 20th birthday, Medicare would have started February 1st of the year you turned 65. Sounds like you've already got that covered though!
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Yara Sabbagh
I remember when my wife hit FRA and we were so confused about all this... we ended up waiting an extra two months because we were afraid of getting reduced benefits! wish i had known about this birthday month rule back then! could have gotten two more months of payments...
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