How claiming age changes your benefit
Your full retirement age benefit is the baseline. Claim earlier and the monthly amount is permanently lower; claim later and it is higher, up to 70. The month-by-month rules are fixed by law, so the real choice is between a smaller check for more years and a larger check for fewer. The tool uses the exact monthly reductions and credits instead of one flat percentage, and it uses your own birth cohort's full retirement age instead of assuming 67.
If you have SSA's estimates
Your my Social Security statement shows estimated benefits at 62, full retirement age and 70. Those assume you keep earning until each age, so they can differ from a straight formula applied to your full-retirement-age figure. You can enter the 62 and 70 figures; the tool treats them as SSA's numbers and warns you when they differ noticeably from the formula, and it does not treat the analysis as verified just because you entered one of them.
How Social Security works with a FERS pension
- Your FERS annuity does not reduce Social Security. The Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset ended for benefits payable for January 2024 and later.
- The FERS Supplement, if you qualify, covers the years before 62 and ends the month you turn 62, so the claiming age you pick decides whether there is a gap afterward.
- Both the pension and Social Security can be taxable; this tool shows Social Security before tax.
Related tools
- SSA earnings-history estimator to estimate your benefit from your earnings record.
- FERS Supplement calculator for the bridge to 62.
- Household retirement income to combine pension, TSP and Social Security.
- FERS pension calculator to estimate the pension at different retirement ages.
Frequently asked questions
What is my full retirement age?
It depends on the year you were born: 66 for 1943 through 1954, then rising two months a year to 66 and 10 months for 1959, and 67 for 1960 and later. Your full retirement age is when you can claim 100% of your benefit.
How much is my benefit reduced if I claim early?
Your benefit is cut by 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months before your full retirement age and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that. For full retirement age 67, claiming at 62 gives 70% of your full benefit, claiming at 65 gives 86.7%. The reduction is permanent.
How much more do I get by waiting past full retirement age?
For people born in 1943 or later, delayed retirement credits add 2/3 of 1% a month, or 8% a year, until age 70. With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 70 pays 124% of your full benefit. Nothing is gained by waiting beyond 70.
What is the break-even age?
The age at which the total you would have received by claiming later catches up with the total from claiming earlier. Claiming at 70 instead of 62 typically breaks even in the early 80s before discounting. Whether that favors waiting depends on your health, your other income, and whether you would invest the earlier payments, which is why the tool also shows a present value at a discount rate you choose.
Does working reduce my Social Security if I claim early?
If you are under full retirement age for the whole year, SSA withholds $1 for every $2 you earn above $25,560 (the 2027 limit). In the year you reach full retirement age it withholds $1 for every $3 above $67,920, counting only earnings before the month you reach it. Only wages and self-employment income count, not pensions or TSP withdrawals. Withheld benefits are not lost: SSA recomputes your benefit at full retirement age to credit the months withheld.
Does my FERS pension reduce my Social Security?
No. The Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, which cut benefits for some people with pensions from work not covered by Social Security, no longer apply to benefits payable for January 2024 and later (Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 5, 2025). Your FERS pension does not reduce your Social Security, though both can be taxable income.
How does the FERS Supplement fit in?
If you retire under FERS before 62 and qualify, the Supplement approximates the Social Security you earned while federal. It stops the month you turn 62 whether or not you have claimed. If you delay Social Security beyond 62, there is a stretch with the pension alone, so plan that gap before choosing a claiming age.
What do spouses and survivors get?
A spouse can receive up to half of the worker's full-retirement-age benefit, less their own benefit, reduced if claimed early. After a worker dies, the surviving spouse can receive up to the larger of what the worker was getting or 82.5% of the worker's full-retirement-age benefit, and takes the higher of that and their own benefit. Because delayed credits raise the worker's benefit, the higher earner delaying also raises the survivor's benefit.
Are the figures official, and is anything stored?
They are estimates built from SSA's published rules and the benefit you enter. SSA calculates your actual benefit from your earnings record. Everything runs in your browser; your birth date, benefits and earnings are never sent or saved, and analytics record only that the tool was used.