5.1: Retirement Age

Gradually raise the full retirement age.

Other Information:

Under current law, the earliest age at which a person can claim Social Security retirement benefits is 62. If a worker begins collecting benefits at this age, his or her monthly benefit is reduced so each individual can expect to receive the same amount of benefits as he or she would at the full retirement age. (The full retirement age is the age at which a person can claim the full Social Security retirement benefit.) The current full retirement age is 66 and will gradually rise to 67 for people born after 1959. One option to extend solvency of the Social Security system would involve raising the full retirement age beyond 67. There are a number of available options to do this, including raising the full retirement age to 68 or 70, or indexing the full retirement age to increases in life expectancy.

Stakeholder(s):

• Retirees

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

Content