Baby Boomers are making a costly mistake when it comes to Social Security, and it is one that could follow them for the rest of their lives. The error is both surprisingly common and nearly impossible to undo once it has been set in motion.
Here is the Social Security choice that far too many Boomers are making, and why it could come back to haunt them in ways they never anticipated.
Baby Boomers Are Making a Bad Social Security Choice
Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are currently between the ages of 62 and 80. That puts the entire generation squarely in the window where they face one of the most consequential financial decisions of their lives: when to claim Social Security benefits.
Far too many are getting this decision wrong. Data from Bankrate shows that close to a quarter of all retirees claim their Social Security benefit at 62, making it the second most popular age to file. Other common claiming ages include 65 (11.3% of retirees) and 66 (34.1%). By contrast, only 9.1% of retirees claim between the ages of 70 and 75, which is unfortunate given that age 70 is the optimal claiming age for the majority of retirees.
The 2025 data made this problem even more urgent. According to the Urban Institute’s analysis of Social Security Administration data, more than 2.3 million Americans filed for Social Security retirement benefits from January through July 2025 alone, a 16% jump from the same period in 2024. The Urban Institute also projected the SSA was on track to receive nearly 4 million total retirement claims for fiscal year 2025, an increase of roughly 15% over fiscal year 2024 and five times the average annual growth rate of 3% seen from 2012 to 2024. Much of that surge was driven by anxiety over potential program changes and staffing disruptions at the Social Security Administration, pushing more Boomers than ever to lock in permanently reduced benefits.
An AARP survey conducted in June 2025 illuminated the mindset driving these early claims. Among respondents who filed earlier than originally planned, 49% cited concerns that Social Security is “running out of money” as their motivation. That fear is understandable but largely misplaced: the 2025 Social Security Trustees Report projects that the program’s trust funds could run short by 2034, which would trigger a projected 17% reduction in benefits unless Congress acts. Benefits would be reduced, not eliminated, even under the most pessimistic scenario.
While you become eligible to start checks at 62, an early claim before your full retirement age triggers a permanent reduction in your monthly benefit. Any claim before age 70 also leaves money on the table, because delayed retirement credits keep building until that birthday.
To put this in concrete terms, the 2026 maximum possible monthly benefit for an early claim at age 62 is $2,969, compared to $4,152 at Full Retirement Age (FRA) and $5,181 for those who delay until age 70, according to the Social Security Administration. That creates a gap of $2,212 per month between filing at the earliest versus the latest possible age. A 2022 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that more than 90% of workers between ages 45 and 62 would maximize their lifetime Social Security income by waiting until 70. The same study found that filing optimally rather than early can translate into a median lifetime income gain exceeding $182,000 for many households.
The numbers look even starker when Medicare is factored in. The 2.8% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) raised the average retired worker’s benefit to $2,071 per month in 2026, but that bump was simultaneously offset by a nearly 10% jump in Medicare Part B premiums, which rose to $202.90 per month from $185.00 in 2025. Because Medicare premiums are typically deducted directly from Social Security checks, starting with a permanently lower baseline benefit at 62 means rising healthcare costs consume an ever-larger share of net monthly income each year.
Boomers Who Claim Benefits Early Often Cannot Undo Their Choice
Once a Boomer claims Social Security and starts receiving early checks, that decision is almost always permanent. There is technically a process to rescind an early claim: you have 12 months from the date benefits begin to withdraw your application. The catch is that you must repay every dollar of benefits already collected. For most retirees, that sum is simply unrecoverable, making rescission a theoretical option rather than a practical one.
The “Working Retirement” Earnings Trap
A significant portion of Boomers claim early at 62 while continuing to work, consult, or run a small business, completely unaware of the Retirement Earnings Test (RET). If an early claimer earns more than $24,480 per year in 2026, the Social Security Administration will withhold $1 in benefits for every $2 earned over that threshold. For those reaching their full retirement age during the year, the limit rises to $65,160, with a clawback of $1 for every $3 earned over that amount.
The 12-month window for rescinding benefits compounds this problem. Boomers who regret their early claim may not realize the full financial damage until much later, when savings have thinned and the cumulative effect of a reduced monthly check is impossible to ignore. The reckoning is most painful at the tail end of retirement, when a surviving spouse discovers that their partner’s early filing decision permanently capped the survivor benefit they were counting on.
This spousal and survivor benefit mistake ranks among the most serious traps for married couples. A surviving spouse is entitled to 100% of the deceased worker’s monthly benefit. When the higher-earning spouse files at 62 out of convenience or anxiety, the couple is not just accepting a smaller monthly check for one person. They are permanently setting the ceiling on the financial safety net available to whoever is left behind. What feels like an individual decision in the moment becomes a family legacy strategy with stakes that only become clear in hindsight, often decades too late to correct.
The recent surge in early claims is especially troubling because it appears to be reversing a decades-long trend toward delayed claiming. The Urban Institute noted that even high-income Americans, who have the greatest financial ability to wait, are now filing at 62 at elevated rates. This group stands to lose the most from early filing, since their benefit reduction in absolute dollar terms is larger.
For Boomers who want to avoid lasting regrets, the key is to think carefully about the optimal claiming age before the first check ever arrives. Given the complexity and permanence of this decision, talking with a financial advisor beforehand is one of the most valuable steps a near-retiree can take. With professional guidance, Boomers can weigh all the long-term implications and choose the strategy that best protects their financial security through every stage of their later years.
Editor’s note: This update adds context from the 2025 Social Security Trustees Report, which projects a potential 17% benefit reduction by 2034 rather than program elimination, and from an AARP June 2025 survey finding that 49% of early claimers were motivated by fear Social Security is running out of money. The Urban Institute’s projection of nearly 4 million total FY2025 retirement claims, representing a roughly 15% year-over-year increase, has also been incorporated, along with updated detail that the Medicare Part B premium rose from $185.00 in 2025 to $202.90 in 2026, a $17.90 increase of nearly 10%.
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