I will turn 69 on June 28 and I am planning on filing for my social security retirement benefit at that time. What month should I request my benefit to start in so that I will be sure to get the higher "Age 69" benefit and not the lower Age 68" benefit? Would that be in June or July? When I spoke to Social Security today, they said that it did not matter that my birthday was at the end of the month; my benefit would start in June and my first check would be sent in July. Please clarify this issue.

Thanks

Hi,

In your case you would choose June, which is the payment delivered in July. However, you may want to consider using our software to compare your options before you make your final decision. If you file effective with June 2019 (i.e. the month you attain age 69), you won't initially be credited with delayed retirement credits (DRC) for the first 5 months of 2019. When a person files mid-year between their full retirement age (FRA) and age 70, they initially only receive credit for DRCs accumulated through the prior December. Credit for any months of DRCs earned in the year of filing aren't payable until effective with benefit payments due for the following January.

So, if you file effective with June 2019 you won't receive your full 24% (i.e. 8% per year) DRC increase, at least not to begin with. Instead, your payment rate for June through December of 2019 will only be roughly 20.66% higher than your full retirement age rate. The additional 3.33% increase due for the first 5 months of 2019 would eventually be credited effective with your payment for the month of January 2020, but you probably wouldn't actually receive the increase until much later. Social Security only processes recomputations to include partial year DRCs every other year. The additional increase would be retroactive to your benefit payments starting for the month of January 2020, though, regardless of when Social Security gets around to processing the recomputation.

Best, Jerry