Nearly Half of Americans Are Absolutely Wrong About This All-Important Social Security Rule

Social Security is the foundation for many Americans' retirement plans. However, not everyone knows all of the details of how the government program works. There are a few foundational rules everyone should know, but many Americans' knowledge falls short for even the most basic and important rules governing the program.

If you don't know the basics of how Social Security works, making an informed decision about when to claim your retirement benefits becomes impossible. Applying for benefits too early (or too late) can have serious long-term ramifications on your retirement goals. Unfortunately, almost half of Americans maintain an incorrect belief about how claiming benefits early will impact their monthly benefit, according to a recent survey from Nationwide.

In the survey, 48% of Americans incorrectly identified the following statement as true: "If I claim benefits early, my benefits will go up automatically when reaching full retirement age."

Most readers will reach full retirement age at 67 despite becoming eligible to claim Social Security benefits at age 62. But there's no free lunch when it comes to these benefits. The truth is claiming your benefits before you reach full retirement age will permanently reduce your monthly benefit.

The following table shows just how much less you can expect to receive relative to your full retirement age if you claim early.

For Americans with a full retirement age of 67 (born in 1960 or later).
Table source: Author. Data source: Social Security Administration.

There's a reason why many people may maintain the mistaken belief that you'll see a bump in benefits upon reaching full retirement age. That's because sometimes you actually do. But that's only due to another commonly misunderstood rule: the Social Security earnings test.

The Social Security earnings test says if you earn over a certain amount while collecting retirement benefits before your full retirement age, the Social Security Administration will withhold some of your monthly benefits. The amount withheld is factored back into your monthly benefit once you reach full retirement age. At that point, the earnings test no longer applies, and the SSA no longer withholds any of your benefit.

In this context, the ultimate size of your check is primarily determined by the age at which you initially apply for Social Security. If you never exceed the earnings test threshold in a given year, you'll never see a change in the amount you collect besides the annual COLA.