{"id":10359,"date":"2025-05-14T11:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T15:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=10359"},"modified":"2025-05-14T11:16:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T15:16:18","slug":"an-increasing-number-of-americans-are-claiming-social-security-early-this-year-whats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=10359","title":{"rendered":"An increasing number of Americans are claiming Social Security early this year. What’s up?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Christine Banner planned to wait until her full retirement age of 67 to apply for Social Security benefits.<\/p>\n

But the changes underway at the Social Security Administration, combined with an erratic stock market, changed her mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround the end of January, we started hearing more craziness about changes around Social Security and Elon Musk saying it was the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme,\u201d her husband, Clint, 67, told Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to get her foot in the door and get it started with the idea of being grandfathered in with some sort of protection in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banner, 65, will receive her first check in June of $1,633, $130 less each month than if she had waited two more years, and even smaller than if she held out until age 70.<\/p>\n

Banner is among a rush of Americans applying for initial Social Security benefits this year, many earlier than planned.<\/p>\n

‘Dramatic increase’ in applications<\/strong><\/h2>\n

An official at the Social Security Administration said in an April operational\u00a0meeting<\/a>\u00a0that the agency had not expected the \u201clarge surge\u201d since January, highlighting what he called a \u201cdramatic increase in initial applications for retired worker benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can start receiving your Social Security retirement benefits at age 62. However, you\u2019re entitled to full benefits only when you reach your full retirement age, or FRA. For example, if you turn 62 in 2025, your benefit would be roughly\u00a030%<\/a> lower than it would be at your full retirement age of 67.<\/p>\n

If you\u00a0delay benefits<\/a>\u00a0from your FRA until age 70, you earn delayed retirement credits. Those come to roughly an 8% per year increase for each year until you hit 70, when the credits stop accruing.<\/p>\n

Most people, however, claim earlier, according to the SSA data. Nearly 30% of new Social Security beneficiaries claim benefits at age 62. Around 32% claim benefits after age 62 but before the FRA. Only 10% maximize their monthly benefit by claiming at age 70.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a decision most people don\u2019t take lightly. About 3 in 5 workers and more than 4 in 5 retirees have thought about how the age at which they claim Social Security can impact the amount they receive, according to a new\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0<\/em>What is the retirement age for Social Security, 401(k), and IRA withdrawals?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Tracking 2025 initial claims<\/strong><\/h2>\n

That thinking seems to have turned the dial to file now for initial claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look first at the last two full fiscal years, you see a very consistent pattern. There’s a dip (in applications) around the holidays, a corresponding bump following in January and February, and then the low point is in the summer every year,\u201d the SSA official said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThis year, you can see a pretty significant deviation from the pattern,\u201d he added, noting that filings were pretty calm from the end of October until January, then \u201cthere\u2019s the big surge.\u201d<\/p>\n

In particular, the highest 10% of earners applied earlier than they have in the past, according to SSA data through mid-April.<\/p>\n

As of mid-April, a total of 614,000 non-disability or retirement claims are pending, another official at the meeting noted. \u201cIt’s an extremely high number.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

What\u2019s driving the increase?<\/p>\n

The Social Security Press Office, in an email, laid out three key reasons for the jump in applications:<\/p>\n