Social Security at 67 - Fact vs Perception

[jack63ss]

I keep seeing news headlines that say things like "Social Security’s New Retirement Age Shocks Future Retirees: Ends Traditional Age in 2026", "US Social Security Retirement Age Raised to 67 Starting 2026—What Does This Mean for You?" or "Social Security’s Full Retirement Age Just Went Up – Here’s How Much It Could Cost Seniors Starting 2025". These seem to make it sound like the current adminstration is changing things, which is 100% WRONG.

The "Full retirement age", when you collect your full retirement amount, was 65 for many years. But, in 1983, Congress passed a law to gradually raise the age because people were living longer and were generally healthier at an older age. The law raised the full retirement age beginning with people born in 1938 or later. It was to gradually increase by a few months for every birth year, until it reached 67 for people born in 1960 and later, with an 11 yr hold when it reached 66.

So the increase to 67 is NOT a new thing, it was decided on in 1983. When I retired it was already 66 1/2, and that was 7 years ago. I would really like to see AARP try to straighten this perception out.

[GailL1]

Those that put forth such headlines are using what is deemed in journalistic language to be CLICKBAIT:

noun - (on the internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.

Too many people fall victim to this strategy - but what is even worse is they just read the headline and think it is the gospel of truth - they never even read the clickbait.

Sad - but true