If you really want to retire at 62 and collect Social Security, go for it.
You’ve worked hard enough. You’ve paid your dues. Now it’s your time to relax and collect what’s rightfully yours, right?
According to finance expert Suze Orman, claiming benefits early could be a costly mistake. Her consistent advice: if you’re in good health and financially stable, wait until you reach your Full Retirement Age (FRA) before filing, and ideally delay all the way to 70. For most workers born in 1960 or later, FRA is 67.
Claiming at 62 permanently reduces your benefit by 30% compared to what you would receive at FRA. Claim at FRA and you receive 100% of your earned benefit. Delay to 70, and your monthly payment grows by up to 8% for every year you wait past FRA. Orman has put the total difference bluntly: the benefit at 70 is more than 75% higher than the benefit at 62.
Trending Now: How Many Americans Have Managed to Save $5 Million for Retirement?
To put a number on it: if your full retirement benefit at 67 is $1,000 per month, claiming at 62 drops that to $700. Waiting until 70 can push the monthly check to $1,240 or higher. That larger payment continues for life, and over a 25- or 30-year retirement the cumulative difference can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Why Waiting Often Makes Sense
Americans are living longer than ever, and a smaller monthly check that barely registers at first can become a real financial strain two or three decades into retirement. Delaying Social Security locks in higher income, provides stronger protection against outliving your savings, and builds in a larger cushion against inflation through annual cost-of-living adjustments. The 2026 COLA came in at 2.8%, and those adjustments compound on a bigger base when you claim later.
The math also works in favor of patience for those with longevity on their side. Delaying from 67 to 70 increases monthly benefits by 24%, and the break-even point typically arrives around age 82. For a person entitled to $2,000 per month at 67, waiting until 70 means collecting $2,480 instead, an extra $5,760 per year for life.
If you’ve done the math and still want to retire at 62, the next step is a serious conversation with a financial advisor. Before pulling the trigger, make sure you:
- Have little to no high-interest debt
- Have sufficient retirement savings to last 30 or more years
- Can cover healthcare costs until Medicare begins at 65
- Have factored in inflation and taxes
- Have budgeted for lifestyle expenses like travel or hobbies
Consider This: Dave Ramsey: “You Make $140K. Stay Out of Restaurants, Don’t Go on Vacation, And Get Rid of the Ferrari Bike”
Most people underestimate how much they will need in retirement and overestimate how prepared they already are. A realistic retirement budget has to account for vacations, home maintenance, family support, and the unpredictable emergency expenses that appear without warning. Running the numbers carefully now prevents financial stress later.
The bottom line on Orman’s advice: retiring at 62 is not impossible, but claiming Social Security at that age can impose a permanent cost that compounds over decades.
One More Thing: Here’s What Bill Gates Can Collect from Social Security
You’ll Also Want a Plan B in Place
The long-term finances of Social Security make a strong case for building your own retirement wealth alongside whatever you expect to collect from the government. The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report, released on June 9, 2026, projects that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032, one year earlier than the prior estimate. The primary driver of the accelerated timeline is the 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which reduced income tax on Social Security benefits and thereby lowered projected trust fund revenue.
If depletion happens on schedule without congressional action, the program will be able to pay only 78% of scheduled benefits, an automatic 22% cut for every recipient. That would translate to roughly $456 less per month for someone collecting the average 2026 benefit of $2,071. A married couple made up of two average beneficiaries could see their combined annual income fall by around $10,600.
None of this means Social Security will vanish. The program has never missed a payment, and Congress has a strong political incentive to act before the deadline. But the uncertainty is real enough to justify treating Social Security as one piece of a larger retirement plan rather than its entire foundation. Building personal savings, reducing reliance on a single income source, and keeping expenses flexible all become more important the closer that 2032 window gets.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect the June 2026 Social Security Trustees Report, which officially projects OASI trust fund depletion in the fourth quarter of 2032, with an automatic 22% benefit cut for all recipients absent congressional action. Context was also added on the 2026 COLA of 2.8%, the average monthly retirement benefit of $2,071, and Suze Orman’s specific claim that benefits at age 70 are more than 75% higher than at age 62.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks