At present, the full retirement age for one to begin to receive Social Security retirement benefits ranges from age 65 to age 67, depending upon one's date of birth. Anyone, however, may retire as early as age 62 by accepting a permanent reduction in benefits. "Early" retirement, that is retirement at some time between the age of 62 and the date of one's full retirement age, will cause Social Security retirement benefits to be reduced by a fraction of a percent for each month remaining before one's full retirement age.

In general, and according to the Social Security Administration, when the longer period of time over which payments collected is considered, early retirement will provide approximately the same total benefits over one's lifetime, but in smaller monthly amounts. Overall, the advantage to early retirement is that one will receive benefits over a longer period of time; the disadvantage is that the benefits will be permanently reduced. Each person must make this decision based on his or her own situation, and would be well advised to contact a Social Security office before making the decision to begin receiving benefits.

The following table, provided by the Social Security Administration, gives approximate calculations for percentage monthly and total reductions by age for Social Security retirement benefits:

*Note: Persons born on Jan.1 of any year should refer to the previous year.

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