I pay more than my share ... and it makes me sick. I keep thinking when I'm old enough to draw SS they're going to change the system to a "needs based" wherein those of us that saved / invested / sacrificed for our retirement wouldn't get social security but those who were lazy / foolish / didn't save anything will get social security. I've been paying social security taxes since 1984. They better pay out when I get to 62.

I was born after 1960 so I fall into the 67 year old "full benefit" scheme ...

If you were born in 1960 your full retirement age is 67

Remember, the earliest a person can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits will remain age 62.

If you start receiving retirement benefits at:

age 62, you will get 70 percent of the monthly benefit because you will be getting benefits for an additional 60 months.
age 65, you will get 86.7 percent of the monthly benefit because you will be getting benefits for an additional 24 months.

If you start receiving benefits as a spouse at your full retirement age, you will get 50 percent of the monthly benefit your spouse would receive if their benefits started at full retirement age. If you start receiving benefits at:

age 62, you will get 32.5 percent of the monthly benefit instead of 50 percent because you will be getting benefits for an additional 60 months.
age 65, you will get 41.7 percent of the monthly benefit instead of 50 percent because you will be getting benefits for an additional 24 months.

My wife is in the investment industry and she can't figure out what my benefit will be since I'm going to take "early retirement" (that is to say I will NOT be working into my 60's ... I will be retiring in my early 50s). As a result, even BIG NAME INVESTMENT CORPORATION software has a hard time calculating what my benefit will be. As a result, we've calculated the LOWEST possible benefit and then cut it half as part of our retirement planning.