Why Did So Many People File Early for Social Security Last Year?

Until recently, economic researchers were cheering an encouraging trend: Older Americans were staying in the labor force longer and waiting longer to claim their Social Security benefits, aiming to enhance their financial stability in retirement.Not everyone, of course.Despite financial advisers’ counsel and economists’ hopes, most people still claim their benefits before reaching their designated full retirement age, though that usually means a lifetime of lower monthly payments.Early claimers might hit an unexpected financial crunch, as Alan Turner did when he lost his job as a museum exhibit designer in 2022.

“I haphazardly looked for work, but my prospects weren’t very good,” he said.For a while Mr.Turner, 69, who lives in New Castle, Del., got by on unemployment benefits and savings, hoping to reach his full retirement age — 66 and a half — before claiming.

“It was doable, but it was bleak,” he said.He took his benefits at 64, reducing his Social Security income by about $5,000 a year.Or people might feel the need to retire earlier than planned.

Nancy Mansson, a nuclear medicine technologist in West Hebron, N.Y., found last year that “I was just fried,” she said.“I had to step away,” though she was more than a year short of her full retirement age.People can claim Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62, but they face substantially reduced payments than if they wait until full retirement age, now 67 for those born in 1960 or later.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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