Key Takeaways
- Social Security’s 2027 cost-of-living adjustment is 3.6%, paid from January 2027, and a raise in percent adds more dollars to a bigger check.
- A worker whose benefit at full retirement age is $2,000 a month gets $2,480 by waiting until 70, which is 24% more than at 67 and 77% more than the $1,400 at 62.
- Waiting from 67 to 70 means three years without checks, and you make them back by age 82 and a half.
- A widow or widower who claims at full retirement age gets the late spouse’s full benefit plus delayed credits, so a higher earner who waits until 70 raises the survivor’s check too.
Social Security checks are going up 3.6%. That’s the cost-of-living adjustment for 2027 that the Social Security Administration announced this month. It starts with December 2026 benefits, which are paid in January 2027.
Even if you haven’t claimed yet, that raise still matters to you. A raise in percent is worth more dollars on a bigger check, and you get the biggest check Social Security pays by waiting until 70 to claim it.
What three years of waiting is worth
Let’s take a hypothetical. Say you were born in 1960 or later, which makes your full retirement age 67, and your benefit at 67 would be $2,000 a month.
You can claim as early as 62, but the Social Security Administration cuts the benefit 30% for life if you do. That leaves you $1,400 a month. If you wait past 67, the SSA adds 8% for each year (2/3 of 1% a month) until you turn 70, when the increases stop. Wait all three years and you’ve added 24%, for $2,480 a month.
1. The biggest check you’ll ever get
At $2,480, your check is $1,080 a month bigger than it would have been at 62. That’s a 77% raise, and you keep it for life.
Every cost-of-living raise is figured on that bigger check, too. In January, 2027’s 3.6% adds $89.28 a month to a $2,480 check and $50.40 to a $1,400 one. The same raise puts $38.88 more a month in your pocket, and the gap in dollars grows with every raise after it.
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2. Insurance against a long life
Waiting from 67 to 70 means passing up 36 checks of $2,000, or $72,000. In return, you get $480 more a month from 70 on, so it takes 150 months (12 and a half years) to make up that $72,000. In today’s dollars, you draw even at 82 and a half, and you’re ahead every month after that.
If you make it to 95, you’ve collected $72,000 more than if you’d claimed at 67.
That’s why I think of the bigger check as insurance against a long life. Your savings can run out if you live to 95. Social Security checks keep coming every month for as long as you live. So you get the most out of waiting in the years when you’d worry most about money.
3. The check your spouse keeps
If you’re married and you earn more than your spouse, your claiming age also sets the check your spouse could get after you’re gone.
The SSA’s Social Security Handbook says a widow or widower who waits until full retirement age gets 100% of the late spouse’s benefit, plus the delayed retirement credits the late spouse earned. So if you wait until 70 and die first, your spouse would get your $2,000 plus your $480 of credits once they reach full retirement age. That’s $2,480 a month.
The SSA pays the survivor less if the late spouse took a reduced retirement benefit, or if the survivor claims before full retirement age. By waiting, you’re buying a bigger check for whichever of you lives longer.
You have to be able to afford the wait
But you have to get through the three years from 67 to 70 without a check. If you’d otherwise have claimed at 62, that’s eight years. That money has to come from savings or a paycheck. And if your health makes your early 80s a long shot, the bigger check may never make up for the ones you passed up.
You gain nothing by waiting past 70, since the SSA’s credits stop there.
The way I see it, waiting until 70 is the best deal Social Security offers if you’re healthy and can cover those three years. That goes double if you’re married and the higher earner.
Of course, nobody knows how long they’ll live. If your health or your savings change along the way, you don’t have to wait the full three years. The credits build by the month, so claiming at 68 and a half still gets you 12% more than at 67.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
