What is FRA in Social Security terms? New retiree confused about benefit age

FRA stands for Full Retirement Age. It's the age when you qualify for your complete retirement benefit amount (also called your Primary Insurance Amount or PIA). For people born between 1943-1954, FRA is 66. For those born 1955-1960, it gradually increases, and for anyone born 1960 or later, FRA is 67. It's definitely important to understand because claiming at 62 means you'll get a permanently reduced benefit - about 30% less than if you waited until your FRA. Each month you wait to claim between 62 and FRA increases your lifetime benefit amount.

It means Full Retirement Age. they dont make it easy to understand do they?? I had the same question when i started looking at all this stuff last year. the SS website is terrible about explaining things for regular people!!

FRA = Full Retirement Age. It's when you get 100% of your benefit. If you claim at 62, you'll only get about 70% of your full benefit amount permanently. But if you wait past your FRA up to age 70, you get delayed retirement credits of 8% per year. Your FRA depends on your birth year. Anyone born 1960 or later has an FRA of 67. You should create a my Social Security account at ssa.gov to see your personal estimates at different claiming ages before making any decisions.

Don't feel stupid! The SSA uses SO MANY acronyms without explaining them. FRA is Full Retirement Age - the age when you get your "full" benefit. If you claim before that age, your benefit is reduced PERMANENTLY. For people born in 1960 or later, FRA is 67. Here's what's confusing though - even though they call it "full" retirement age, you can actually get MORE than your "full" benefit by waiting until age 70!!! Makes no sense why they call it "full" when it's not actually the maximum. SMH at how the SSA communicates.

I had TERRIBLE time trying to get answers from Social Security when I was figuring out my FRA benefits last year. Kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. I finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual SSA agent in about 20 minutes instead of spending all day trying. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU FRA is your Full Retirement Age - basically when you get your full benefit amount. But definitely talk to an actual agent about your specific situation because there are so many factors that affect your optimal claiming age.

my FRA is 67 (born in 1962) and i was going to wait until then to get my "full" benefits but then my sister told me if I wait till 70 I could get even more money...??? is that right? now im confused about what "full retirement age" even means if you can get more than "full" lol

I was confused by FRA too when I first started looking at SS stuff. Full Retirement Age - it varies based on birth year. Mine is 66 and 6 months (born in 1957). I think urs would be 67 if ur turning 62 next month. Check ssa.gov and set up an account to see ur exact numbers. Good luck with all of it!

The MOST IMPORTANT thing you need to know about FRA is that it affects how much your benefit is reduced if you're still working! If you claim before your FRA and earn over the earnings limit ($21,240 in 2025) they take back $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn over that limit!!! But once you reach FRA, there's NO LIMIT on what you can earn while receiving benefits!!! The SSA doesn't make this clear enough and people get SHOCKED when their benefits get reduced.