Can a Few New Labels Change Social Security Claiming Trends?

AARP-backed bill aims to tweak SSA wording to help older adults decide when to start benefits

Deirdre Shesgreen,

AARP

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Published November 06, 2025

a figure stands in the middle of a maze of social security cards on a red background

Rob Dobi

Could a little wordsmithing by the Social Security Administration (SSA) help older Americans make better decisions about when to claim their retirement benefit — and potentially get a bigger lifetime payment? That’s the idea behind a bipartisan bill now before Congress. If enacted, the Claiming Age Clarity Act would tweak the terms the SSA uses on its website and in other communications to help prospective beneficiaries decide when to apply for Social Security.

Supporters — including AARP, which has endorsed the bill — say these small changes could make a big difference for soon-to-be beneficiaries by clarifying the pros and cons of claiming Social Security at various ages.

For example, starting to receive benefits at 62, the earliest age people can claim, results in monthly payments up to 30 percent lower than what you’d get by waiting until full retirement age, which is 66 and 10 months for people born in 1959 and 67 for those born in 1960 and later.

The SSA currently labels 62 as the “early eligibility age.” The Claiming Age Clarity Act, which cleared the House Ways and Means Committee in mid-September, would change that to “minimum monthly benefit age” to more clearly convey the financial impact.

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Similarly, the term “full retirement age,” when you can claim 100 percent of the benefit calculated from your lifetime earnings history, would become the “standard monthly benefit age.” Age 70, when you can claim your biggest possible monthly payment thanks to Social Security’s “delayed retirement credits,” would be labeled “maximum monthly benefit age.”

“Ensuring that everyone understands what different claiming ages mean for their monthly Social Security will help empower people to make the best financial decisions for themselves and their families,” says Nancy LeaMond, AARP’s chief advocacy and engagement officer.

The bill was introduced in the House by Reps. Lloyd Smucker (R-Penn.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.), and in the Senate by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Chris Coons, (D-Del).

Small changes, ‘measurable effects’

The bill’s sponsors say the current terms are confusing and may contribute to older Americans making poor financial decisions.

“Under the current structure and jargon, it is not apparent to beneficiaries that a worker [who] claims Social Security at age 62, with a monthly benefit of $1,400, could have instead earned $1,500 per month by delaying their claiming by just one year, or $1,600 by waiting two,” Beyer wrote in an Oct. 3 committee report on the bill.

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Greater clarity on the impact of claiming at different ages is especially important now, LeaMond says, as older Americans grapple with a retirement savings gap and persistent inflation.

A 2023 study co-funded by the SSA indicated that “micro-changes in information policy can have measurable effects on people’s retirement decision-making.”

That analysis, led by the University of Southern California and co-written by an SSA researcher, found that the current claiming-age terminology “does not help people to understand their options adequately and may be leading some people to claim Social Security retirement benefits earlier than optimal.”

As part of the study, about 3,500 participants were presented with information about claiming Social Security, with some viewing the SSA’s terms and others seeing language similar to what’s proposed in the Claiming Age Clarity Act.

The researchers concluded that “slight modifications of a few keywords” could improve people’s understanding of the issue and “change their intended claiming and retirement ages.”

Francisco Perez-Arce, a USC economist who led the study, says the effects were particularly pronounced among participants with lower levels of education.

Trust fund fears fuel early claims

A sizable majority of older adults still file for Social Security early, although the share has declined in recent years. About 62 percent of people receiving retirement benefits in 2024 claimed them before reaching full retirement age, and 22 percent started at age 62.

Recent research suggests factors beyond benefit amounts are at work.

For example, a June AARP poll found that among Americans age 50-plus who claimed Social Security earlier than planned or have moved up their intended claiming date, fear about the program’s financial future was the biggest motivating factor.

Another recent survey, by financial management firm Schroders, found that a large majority of non-retired Americans understand that waiting to file means bigger benefits, but many plan to claim early anyway. Among that group, more than a third cited concern that “Social Security may run out of money or stop making payments.”

In their 2025 annual report, Social Security’s trustees project that the surplus in the program’s combined trust funds will be depleted by 2034. Even if that happens, benefits would continue being paid, although they would be reduced if Congress does not act to shore up Social Security’s finances.

Deb Boyden, a retirement specialist with Schroders, says the Claiming Age Clarity Act should be part of a broader effort to educate Americans about retirement planning in general and Social Security in particular.

Clarifying the language around claiming age could have a modest impact on changing behavior, she says, but policymakers and the financial industry also need to address misinformation about Social Security’s finances and “the fear of Social Security not being there.”

Beyer, in the October Ways and Means Committee report, acknowledged that the Claiming Age Clarity Act “doesn’t solve the big picture on Social Security” but said it could boost financial literacy for a significant segment of the older population.

“Those who are able to postpone claiming their benefits are almost always better off when they do,” he said. “It not only increases the expected payout over their lifetime but also provides better protection against outliving one’s savings.”

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Deirdre Shesgreen is an AARP writer and editor covering Social Security. She previously worked as a state news editor for the AARP Bulletin and as a reporter and editor at USA Today, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other publications.