Full Retirement Age

• Social Security calculates benefits based on full retirement age. Workers born from 1943 to 1954 reach full retirement age at 66; workers born from 1954 to 1959 reach retirement at some point between 66 and 67. Workers born in 1960 and later reach full retirement age at 67. The year you reach full retirement age, you receive 100 percent of calculated benefits, a figure Social Security refers to as your primary insurance amount, or PIA.
  
  

Early Retirement

• Social Security allows retirement as early as age 62 if you have sufficient work history and credits, or quarters paid in Social Security taxes. The 2011 requirement is a minimum of 10 years or 40 credits. Early retirement comes at a cost. You receive 70 to 75 percent of your full-retirement-age benefit at age 62. Each year that you wait between age 62 and full retirement t to take your Social Security retirement benefits, increases your percentage and your monthly benefit amount.
  
  

Late Retirement

• If you wait past your full retirement age, your benefits continue to increase to age 70, after which your benefit remains the same. At 70, your benefit amount is 130 percent of your full retirement age benefit. Your benefit increases from your full retirement age to age 70 by about 8 percent a year if your birth date is after 1943.
  
  

Other Factors

• For most individuals, Social Security benefits meet about half of their retirement needs, according to the Social Security Administration. Continuing to work while taking early retirement benefits may subject you to Social Security penalties. As of 2011, earned income in excess of $14,160 for early retirees incurs a Social Security penalty of $1 for every $2 you earn above that amount. After reaching full retirement age, you can earn any amount of income without penalty. Also, if you paid a penalty for working during early retirement, Social Security recalculates your benefits at full retirement age. This may increase your full retirement benefit amount, or PIA, slightly. Taking early Social Security may also affect the benefits your family will receive if you die, because Social Security bases survivor benefits on the early retirement figure.