Anyone who may become eligible for Social Security this year should familiarize themselves with the changes and news coming to the system in 2017. First and foremost, there will be a rise in the full retirement age for the program for the first time in decades. People born in 1955 will be turning 62 this year, and they will find that their retirement age has been raised to 66 years old and two months.
This, overall, is a slight change though as the former full retirement age was 66. It has been analyzed that when taking the entire population into consideration, those two months could help save money and keep the system alive. It is also crucial to note that seniors will still be able to claim benefits at the age of 62, but will receive a small financial penalty for doing so.
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In addition to facing a small financial penalty, individuals who take Social Security retirement early may find that they have to give back some of their benefits if they are working. This is due to the maximum earning limits that are set by Social Security before one has to give back money to the government. Specifically, in 2017 those who won’t reach the full retirement age will lose $1 for every $2 they earn above $16,920. But even for those who have to forfeit some of their hard-earned money, there is an upside.
The system is designed in such a way as to compensate for any losses and attempt to even things out. For each month in which an individual has to forfeit some income because of the maximum threshold rule, said individual will be credited as if he or she had taken their benefits a month later than he or she actually did. This makes for larger payments, later on, to offset the monetary loss in the beginning.