When is retirement age?

Previously, so-called retirement age was 65; however, the Social Security Administration, or SSA, advises Americans that a person's retirement age is not fixed, but rather it depends on when a person was born. The SSA formally calls it the full retirement age.

The SSA defines the full retirement age as the earliest age that a person becomes entitled to full retirement benefits, and that age is increasing. People born in 1960 or later have a full retirement age of 67, not 65, for example. The SSA's website has a retirement age calculator to determine this. However, the age a person can start receiving Social Security benefits remains at 62.