Is the Social Security retirement age going up?

Yes. Since the early 2000s, full retirement age (FRA) — the age at which you are eligible to claim 100 percent of the benefit Social Security calculates from your lifetime earnings record — has been incrementally increasing from 65 to 67, based on year of birth.

The cycle is almost complete: FRA is 66 and 8 months for those born in 1958, 66 and 10 months for those born in 1959 and will settle at 67 for those born in 1960 or later.

These changes were mandated by Congress in 1983 as part of a law that strengthened Social Security's finances. Congress cited improvements in the health of older people and increases in life expectancy as reasons for raising the retirement age.

Keep in mind

Raising the age further is one of many possible reforms to Social Security that have come up for debate in Washington.