The Social Security choice many boomers get wrong and can’t undo

Baby Boomers are making a costly Social Security mistake, and it is one that could follow them for the rest of their lives. The error is both surprisingly common and nearly impossible to reverse once set in motion.

Here is the claiming choice that far too many Boomers are making, and why it could haunt them in ways they never anticipated.

Baby Boomers Are Making a Bad Social Security Choice

Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are currently between the ages of 62 and 80. The entire generation sits squarely in the window for one of the most consequential financial decisions of their lives: when to claim Social Security benefits.

Far too many are getting this decision wrong. Data from Bankrate shows that close to a quarter of all retirees claim their Social Security benefit at 62, making it the second most popular age to file. Other common claiming ages include 65 (11.3% of retirees) and 66 (34.1%). By contrast, only 9.1% of retirees claim between the ages of 70 and 75, which is unfortunate given that age 70 is the optimal claiming age for the majority of retirees. For additional context, an Investopedia analysis of Social Security Administration data found that roughly 26% of new beneficiaries claimed at 62 in 2024, the lowest share in at least 40 years. Then came 2025, which reversed that long progress almost overnight.

The 2025 data made this problem more urgent than ever. According to the Urban Institute's analysis of Social Security Administration data, more than 2.3 million Americans filed for Social Security retirement benefits from January through July 2025 alone, a 16% jump from the same period in 2024. The Urban Institute also projected the SSA was on track to receive nearly 4 million total retirement claims for fiscal year 2025, an increase of roughly 15% over fiscal year 2024 and five times the average annual growth rate of 3% seen from 2012 to 2024. Much of that surge was driven by anxiety over potential program changes and staffing disruptions at the Social Security Administration, pushing more Boomers than ever to lock in permanently reduced benefits.

An AARP survey conducted in June 2025 illuminated the mindset behind these early claims. Among respondents who filed earlier than originally planned, 49% cited concerns that Social Security is "running out of money." That fear is understandable but largely misplaced. The 2025 Social Security Trustees Report projects that the program's OASI trust fund could be depleted by 2033, which would trigger an automatic 23% reduction in benefits unless Congress acts first. Benefits would be reduced, not eliminated, even under the worst-case scenario. A 2024 Census Bureau report underscores what is at stake for those who do file too early: 42% of older Americans rely on Social Security for half or more of their total income.

While you become eligible to start checks at 62, an early claim before your full retirement age triggers a permanent reduction in your monthly benefit. Any claim before age 70 also leaves money on the table, because delayed retirement credits keep building until that birthday.

To put this in concrete terms, the 2026 maximum possible monthly benefit for an early claim at age 62 is $2,969, compared to $4,152 at Full Retirement Age (FRA) and $5,181 for those who delay until age 70, according to the Social Security Administration. That gap of $2,212 per month between filing at the earliest versus the latest possible age compounds over a long retirement into a genuinely staggering sum. A 2022 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that more than 90% of workers between ages 45 and 62 would maximize their lifetime Social Security income by waiting until 70. The same study found that filing optimally rather than early can translate into a median lifetime income gain exceeding $182,000 for many households.

The numbers look even starker when Medicare is factored in. The 2.8% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) raised the average retired worker's benefit to $2,071 per month in 2026, but that gain was immediately offset by a nearly 10% jump in Medicare Part B premiums, which rose to $202.90 per month from $185.00 in 2025. Because Medicare premiums are typically deducted directly from Social Security checks, starting with a permanently lower baseline benefit at 62 means rising healthcare costs consume an ever-larger share of net monthly income with each passing year.

Boomers Who Claim Benefits Early Often Cannot Undo Their Choice

Once a Boomer claims Social Security and starts receiving early checks, that decision is almost always permanent. There is technically a process to rescind an early claim: you have 12 months from the date benefits begin to withdraw your application. The catch is that you must repay every dollar of benefits already collected. For most retirees, that sum is simply unrecoverable, making rescission a theoretical option rather than a practical one.

The "Working Retirement" Earnings Trap

A significant portion of Boomers claim early at 62 while continuing to work, consult, or run a small business, often completely unaware of the Retirement Earnings Test (RET). If an early claimer earns more than $24,480 per year in 2026, the Social Security Administration will withhold $1 in benefits for every $2 earned over that threshold. For those reaching their full retirement age during the year, the limit rises to $65,160, with a clawback of $1 for every $3 earned above that amount.

The 12-month window for rescinding benefits compounds this problem. Boomers who regret an early claim may not recognize the full financial damage until much later, when savings have thinned and the cumulative effect of a reduced monthly check is impossible to ignore. The reckoning tends to be sharpest at the tail end of retirement, when a surviving spouse discovers that their partner's early filing decision permanently capped the survivor benefit they were counting on.

This spousal and survivor benefit mistake ranks among the most serious traps for married couples. A surviving spouse is entitled to 100% of the deceased worker's monthly benefit. When the higher-earning spouse files at 62 out of convenience or anxiety, the couple is not only accepting a smaller monthly check for one person. They are permanently setting the ceiling on the financial safety net available to whoever is left behind. What feels like an individual convenience in the moment becomes a family legacy decision with stakes that only become clear in hindsight, often decades too late to correct.

The recent surge in early claims is especially troubling because it appears to be reversing a decades-long trend toward delayed claiming. The Urban Institute noted that even high-income Americans, who have the greatest financial ability to wait, are now filing at 62 at elevated rates. This group stands to lose the most from early filing in absolute dollar terms, since their benefit reduction is larger.

For Boomers who want to avoid lasting regrets, the key is to think carefully about the optimal claiming age before the first check ever arrives. Given the complexity and permanence of this decision, working with a financial advisor beforehand is one of the most valuable steps a near-retiree can take. With professional guidance, Boomers can weigh all the long-term implications and choose the strategy that best protects their financial security through every stage of their later years.

Editor's note: The projected benefit cut figure from the 2025 Social Security Trustees Report has been corrected from 17% to 23%, reflecting the OASI trust fund's projected 2033 depletion date; a Census Bureau finding that 42% of older Americans rely on Social Security for half or more of their income has been added; and the Investopedia-sourced statistic that roughly 26% of new beneficiaries claimed at 62 in 2024 (the lowest rate in at least 40 years) has been incorporated to contextualize the 2025 surge in early claims.

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