Claiming early cuts the cheque permanently; waiting raises it permanently. The adjustments are fixed in law — which makes this a bet on how long you live, and very little else.
Free to run.
If you also have a teacher pension: the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset were repealed in January 2025, so no pension offset is applied here.
| Claim at | Monthly | vs full age | Lifetime total |
|---|
The adjustments are fixed in law, not estimates. Claiming before full retirement age costs 5/9 of 1% a month for the first three years early, then 5/12 of 1% a month beyond that — 30% for someone claiming at 62 with a full retirement age of 67. Waiting past full retirement age earns 8% a year up to 70, and nothing after 70.
Because the reduction and the credit are both permanent, this is a bet on how long you live and little else. Claim early and you collect more cheques, each smaller. Wait and you collect fewer, each larger. The break-even usually lands in the late seventies or early eighties.
For decades two rules cut Social Security for people with a pension from work that did not pay into the system: the Windfall Elimination Provision reduced a worker’s own benefit, and the Government Pension Offset reduced or erased a spousal or survivor benefit. Between them they affected millions of teachers, firefighters and police officers.
The Social Security Fairness Act, signed on 5 January 2025, repealed both. They no longer apply to benefits payable for January 2024 onward, and the Social Security Administration has been paying adjusted amounts and retroactive differences since 2025. This tool therefore applies no offset for a teacher pension — but if you were affected in the past, check that your own record has been updated.
One thing did not change: in the states where teachers are not covered at all, teaching years still earn no credits. The repeal restored benefits earned in other covered work; it did not create coverage where there was none.
Educational estimates only, not financial advice. Uses the benefit figure you enter, ignores COLA (which raises every option roughly equally), and does not model spousal, survivor, disability or dependent benefits, taxation of benefits, or the earnings test if you keep working. Confirm your own figures at ssa.gov.