What People Turning 60 Need to Understand About Social Security

Reaching 60 does not mean you should immediately file for Social Security. It does, however, begin a decade in which some of the most important and lasting retirement-income choices are made. Nothing you decide this year locks in a benefit amount, but the choices ahead — including when to claim, whether to keep working, and how to coordinate with a spouse — can change your monthly payment by hundreds of dollars for the rest of your life.

This is also the age when an important survivor-benefit rule becomes relevant for widows and widowers. If you have lost a spouse, 60 is when a new option becomes available, and many people do not realize it exists until they are close to missing the window. Here is what matters most about Social Security as you move through this decade, and what is worth lining up before the decisions become irreversible.

How your benefit is figured, and why extra work can still raise it

The Social Security Administration calculates retirement benefits using your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings, or AIME, which is based on your 35 highest-earning years and adjusted for wage growth over time. That AIME is then put into a formula that produces your Primary Insurance Amount, or PIA, which is the benefit you would receive at full retirement age.

If you do not have 35 years of earnings, the missing years are counted as zeros. Even if you do have 35 years, some of those top-earning years may have been relatively low, which can also pull your benefit down. Working a few more years in your 60s can replace weaker years with stronger ones and may increase your eventual monthly benefit.

You do not have to guess at this. Your Social Security earnings record, available through a mySocialSecurity account, shows your work history and annual earnings so you can see whether additional working years would make a difference.

Claiming early permanently lowers the monthly amount

For people born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67, according to the SSA. Benefits can start as early as 62, but doing so permanently reduces the monthly amount. Filing at 62 cuts the benefit to 70% of the full amount, which is a 30% reduction that does not go away.

The closer you get to full retirement age, the smaller the reduction becomes. For instance, claiming at 65 instead of 67 results in a benefit of about 86.7% of the full amount, according to SSA early-retirement tables. Once you choose an early start date, that reduction stays with you for life, aside from cost-of-living adjustments.

Delayed retirement credits stop at 70

Waiting beyond full retirement age works the other way: you earn delayed retirement credits, which add about 8% per year, or roughly two-thirds of 1% per month, according to the SSA. Someone who waits until 70 instead of claiming at 67 would receive 124% of the full retirement age benefit. Those credits stop accumulating at 70, so there is no additional increase after that.

The average Social Security retirement benefit is $2,088.79 per month as of September 2026, though each person’s benefit depends on that individual’s earnings record and claiming age.

Survivor benefits: the age-60 milestone many people overlook

There is an important rule that many people do not learn about until they need it. If your spouse has died, you may be eligible for survivor benefits based on that spouse’s earnings record beginning at age 60, according to the SSA.

Claiming at 60 means accepting a reduced amount, since survivor benefits claimed at that age are paid at a lower percentage than the full amount available at full retirement age. Still, the eligibility begins on that birthday, which is years earlier than many people expect.

The remarriage rule tied to survivor benefits matters just as much. If you remarry before age 60, you generally lose eligibility for survivor benefits on your late spouse’s record unless that later marriage ends in death, divorce, or annulment, according to SSA rules. If you remarry at 60 or later, there is no penalty.

You can still potentially receive survivor benefits from your late spouse’s record, and you may also be able to compare that amount with a benefit based on your new spouse’s record to see which is higher. That single birthday can change how remarriage affects your benefits, so it is important to understand before making that decision.

The earnings test if you claim early and keep working

If you start Social Security before full retirement age and continue working, some of your benefits may be temporarily withheld under the retirement earnings test. For 2026, the SSA’s annual exempt amount is $24,480 for people who are under full retirement age for the entire year; $1 in benefits is withheld for every $2 earned above that amount.

In the year you reach full retirement age, a higher limit of $65,160 applies to earnings before the month you reach that age, with $1 withheld for every $3 above the limit. Once you reach full retirement age, the earnings test no longer applies, regardless of how much you earn.

Those withheld benefits are not lost forever. The SSA later recalculates your benefit at full retirement age to account for months when payments were reduced or withheld because of earnings.

How much of your benefit may be taxed

Social Security benefits can become partially taxable depending on your combined income, which includes adjusted gross income, nontaxable interest, and half of your Social Security benefits. The income thresholds that determine taxation have not changed in years and are not adjusted for inflation, which means more retirees are affected over time.

Depending on income and filing status, up to 50% or 85% of benefits may be subject to federal income tax, according to IRS guidance. That is worth factoring into any claiming decision, since claiming earlier while still working can raise combined income and trigger taxation that might not otherwise apply.

Why income at 63 can affect Medicare costs at 65

Medicare premiums are based on a two-year lookback to your tax return, which surprises many people.

The income-related monthly adjustment amount, or IRMAA, that determines your Medicare Part B premium is based on your modified adjusted gross income from two years earlier. That means income in your early 60s — including a Roth conversion, a large capital gain, or a final bonus from work — can increase what you pay for Medicare a couple of years later.

For 2026, the standard Medicare Part B premium is $202.90 per month, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Single filers with 2024 MAGI above $109,000, or joint filers above $218,000, pay more, with surcharges ranging from an extra $81.20 per month to an extra $487.00 per month at the highest income levels.

Because of that two-year lookback, it is worth thinking about how income in your early 60s could affect Medicare costs later.

What married couples should coordinate now

Married couples have more moving parts to think through than single filers, and the pieces interact. Each spouse’s claiming age affects not only that person’s benefit, but also the survivor benefit the other spouse may eventually receive, since a widow or widower can generally step into the higher of the two benefits after a spouse dies.

Deciding when each spouse should claim, while also weighing health, income needs, and life expectancy, is a conversation worth having well before either person files. SSA benefit calculators and a financial advisor who understands Social Security claiming strategies can help compare scenarios side by side instead of relying on guesswork.

Check your estimate and earnings record while corrections are still manageable

The most useful thing a 60-year-old can do right now is not choosing a claiming age. It is logging into a mySocialSecurity account to pull a personalized estimate and review the earnings history behind it.

Errors in your earnings record — such as a missing year or an incorrect wage amount — can reduce a future benefit, and they are much easier to correct while current documentation is available than after many years have passed and records are harder to find.

Bottom line

Sixty is a planning age, not a claiming age, and that is what makes it valuable. The decisions that matter most — when to file, how to coordinate with a spouse, whether survivor benefits apply, and how current income may affect Medicare costs later — are easier to manage with a decade of lead time than with only a few months left.

To get ready financially, start by pulling a personalized estimate through your mySocialSecurity account and reviewing your earnings record line by line. It costs nothing, takes only a few minutes, and gives you real numbers instead of rough assumptions.

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