By Judy Benge
May 19, 2008 10:26 pm
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Dear Judy: Can you tell me at what age can I begin receiving my full retirement benefits? I want to file when I get 100 percent of my benefits. I’m sure there are a lot of people wondering how the increasing retirement age will change their retirement plans.
Answer: There are many people approaching retirement age who have had to delay their retirement because of the change in the law that has changed the full retirement age from 65 to 67. Many readers have asked me to explain how the gradual increase will work.
As everyone knows, the full retirement age has been 65 for many years. Beginning with people born in 1938 or later, that age gradually increases until it reaches 67 for people born after 1959. If you were born on January first of any year, you should refer to the full retirement age of the previous year. The following chart shows the steps in which the age will increase.
Born in 1937, full retirement age is 65.
1938; it’s 65 and 2 months
1939; it’s 65 and 4 months
1940; it’s 65 and 6 months
1941; it’s 65 and 8 months
1942; it’s 65 and 10 months
1943 - 1954; it’s 66
1955; it’s 66 and 2 months
1956; it’s 66 and 4 months
1957; it’s 66 and 6 months
1958; it’s 66 and 8 months
1959; it’s 66 and 10 months
AND 1960 and later; it’s 67.
May is Older Americans Month. A meeting of the National Council of Senior Citizens resulted in President John F. Kennedy designating May, 1963 as Senior Citizens Month, encouraging the nation to pay tribute in some way to older people. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter’s proclamation changed the name to Older Americans Month.
There are some interesting facts reported by the U.S. Census Bureau:
On July 1, 2006, the Census Bureau reported there are 37.3 million people 65 and older in the United States. Seniors account for 12 percent of the total population. Between 2005 and 2006, this age group increased by 473,000 people.
By 2050, it is projected there will be 86.7 million older citizens.
The proportion of those 65 and older in 2007 with a high school diploma is 76 percent.
The number of married older individuals is 53 percent as of 2006; and 32 percent were widowed.
The report states that in 2006, there were 64 percent who lived with relatives and another 27 percent lived alone. Nursing facilities housed 1.6 million older people in 2006.
There are 72 men in this age group (as of 2006) for every 100 women. For those age 85 and older, there were 47 men per 100 women.
On Nov. 1, 2007, there were 84,331 centenarians in the U.S. The Census Bureau projects there will be 580,605 centenarians in 2040.
judybenge@bellsouth.net.
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