Senator Chris Coons (D-DE). Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
What’s the best age to start receiving Social Security benefits? To better help Americans answer that question for themselves, four U.S. Senators – Chris Coons (D-DE), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) – have reintroduced legislation to enhance Americans’ retirement security by ensuring they receive regular statements from the Social Security administration to make more informed decisions about when to begin claiming benefits.
Social Security benefits are available to Americans who are age 62, but those who choose to claim their benefits later receive higher monthly payments, with maximum benefits available to those who claim at age 70 or older. Most people do not claim benefits at the age that would maximize their income in retirement, according to Sen. Coons, and by doing so, they forgo a significant amount of retirement income.
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“Social Security is the foundation of most older Americans’ retirement plans, but many of them don’t have the information they need to maximize the Social Security benefits that they’ve earned,” said Senator Coons. “This is a commonsense solution that makes it easier for every American to make an informed decision about when to claim benefits at the best time and get the most out of their retirement income.”
“Americans have earned their Social Security and should have the best financial information available when they retire,” said Sen, Cassidy, a leading advocate for Social Security beneficiaries, as well as the recently passed Social Security Fairness Act.
The new legislation would also help Americans better plan for retirement by requiring the SSA to mail Social Security statements about how much a person has paid into Social Security and Medicare every five years to individuals with Social Security accounts between the ages of 25 and 54, every two years for those between the ages of 55 and 59, and annually for those 60 and above.
“Ensuring that more people are better prepared financially for retirement has consistently been one of my priorities,” said Sen. Collins. “Our bipartisan legislation would help improve retirement security by providing more details and transparent information to enable hardworking Americans to better plan for retirement and make decisions about when to claim the Social Security benefits they have earned.”
“It couldn’t be more important that the information families need to make the decisions that are best for them is accessible and clear,” said Sen. Kaine. “This bipartisan bill would help us make strides in increasing access to that critical information.”
To provide additional clarity for Americans deciding when to claim their benefits, this legislation, which was originally introduced in 2023, changes the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) terminology from “early eligibility age,” “full retirement age,” and “delayed retirement credits” to “minimum monthly benefit age,” “standard monthly benefit age,” and “maximum monthly benefit age” to better reflect how the program works.
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In addition, the legislation would require that Americans be mailed paper Social Security statements regardless of whether they have created an online account with the SSA.
The Senators “believe SSA should take more proactive measures to provide Americans with the tools and resources to determine how best to set themselves and their families up for financial security in retirement,” wrote the senators to the SSA administrator.
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Lynn Cavanaugh
Lynn Varacalli Cavanaugh is Senior Editor, Retirement at BenefitsPRO. Prior, she was editor-in-chief of the What's New in Benefits & Compensation newsletter. She has worked for major firms in the employee benefits space, Vanguard and Willis Towers Watson, as well as top media companies, including Condé Nast and American Media.
