I understand the pull. You’ve paid in for forty years, the money is sitting right there, and somewhere in the back of your mind is a worry that if you wait, the rules will change and you’ll never see a dime.

But I owe you a straight answer: for most people, filing at 62 is the most expensive decision they’ll make in retirement. It’s also permanent. And 2026 quietly raised the stakes.

The Book Finally Closed on 65

This year marks the end of something that started in 1983, when Congress voted to gradually raise the full retirement age. The phase-in is finally finished. If you were born in 1960 or later, your full retirement age is 67. Born in 1959? Yours is 66 and 10 months. Sixty-five is gone, but culture moves slower than policy. I still sit across from people whose fathers retired at 65 and who assumed the same number applied to them.

A 30% Cut, or a 24% Raise

If your full retirement age is 67 and you file at 62, your check is permanently reduced by 30%. Not for a few years. For the rest of your life, and in many cases for your surviving spouse’s life after that.

Go the other direction and the math flips. Every year you delay past full retirement age adds roughly 8%, up to age 70, for a maximum of 24%.

The average retired worker collects about $2,071 a month in 2026. Trim 30% off that and you’re giving up roughly $620 a month, more than $7,400 a year, for life.

And yet about one in four first-time filers claim at 62. When researchers ask why, the answers are rarely about math. They’re about needing the money and fearing the system won’t hold.

Let me address that last one, because it drives more early filing than anything else. The program does have funding challenges, and Congress will have to act. But claiming five years early to guard against a cut that hasn’t happened means accepting a certain 30% reduction to avoid a possible smaller one. That isn’t caution. That’s paying the ransom before anyone asks.

The Trap for Utahns Who Keep Working

Here’s where I see real damage, because Utahns keep working.

Claim before full retirement age and keep earning, and the earnings test kicks in. In 2026, if you’re under full retirement age all year, Social Security withholds a dollar for every two you earn above $24,480. In the year you reach full retirement age, the limit jumps to $65,160 and withholding eases to a dollar for every three. After that, the test disappears and you can earn whatever you want.

That $24,480 is not a high bar. Part-time work at the county, seasonal work, driving a truck through the winter. Plenty of Utahns clear it without thinking of themselves as employed.

One saving grace, and it’s among the most misunderstood rules in the system: withheld benefits aren’t lost. Social Security credits them back once you reach full retirement age. Cold comfort, though, if you were counting on that check now.

Building a Bridge Instead of Settling

So how does someone retire at 63 and still wait until 70? You build a bridge.

Take a portion of your savings and give it one job: covering the gap years between the day you stop working and the day you turn on the largest possible Social Security check. Fixed Index Annuities are built for that work. Principal isn’t exposed to market losses, growth is tied to an index rather than invested in it, and a lifetime income rider can produce a predictable monthly payment starting when you choose.

You’re buying an 8% annual increase on the one income stream that is inflation-adjusted and lasts as long as you do. Not much else in retirement pays like that for waiting.

And delaying doesn’t cost you cost-of-living adjustments — your benefit is adjusted from 62 onward whether you’ve filed or not.

The Decision at Utah’s Kitchen Tables

Let me be honest about the other side.

Filing at 62 is sometimes exactly right. If your health is poor, if your family history is short, if you need the income to keep the lights on, take it. And here’s something you won’t hear from every advisor: if you’ve spent thirty years in the mines in Carbon County, on a rig in the Uintah Basin, or on a tractor in Sanpete, your body may not negotiate with the Social Security Administration. Working to 67 is a fine plan until it isn’t.

Utah does soften the tax side. Our flat income tax fell to 4.45% for 2026, and the state offers a Social Security tax credit worth up to $4,545, with the full credit going to single filers under $54,000 and joint filers under $90,000. Both thresholds key off income, so when you turn on your benefit affects what you keep, not just what you collect.

This is a decision worth a kitchen table, a spouse, a calculator, and an afternoon. Not a form filled out on a whim the month you turn 62.

Lyle Boss, The REAL BOSS Financial, a native Utahn and retirement specialist who has spent decades helping families across Utah and the Mountain West build secure, income-focused retirement plans. Boss Financial, 955 Chambers St. Suite 250, Ogden, UT 84403. Telephone: 801-475-9400. https://www.safemoneylyleboss.com