You can start collecting Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. But if you opt in early, your monthly benefits will be reduced significantly.You aren’t eligible for full Social Security benefits until you reach what’s known as your full retirement age.Full retirement age used to be 65, but that hasn’t been the case for a while.The Social Security Administration now bases your full retirement age on the year you were born:
- If you were born between 1943 and 1954, your full retirement age is 66.
- If you were born between 1955 and 1959, your full retirement age increases gradually up to age 67.
- Anyone born since 1960 has a full retirement age of 67.