If you are planning to take Social Security Retirement Benefits before full retirement age, are you doing this because you want to stop working or because you have an illness or injury that is forcing you to stop working?
If you are taking early retirement due to an illness or injury, you should consider filing a claim for Social Security Disability Benefits. You can do both, meaning you can collect your Reduced Retirement Benefit while you are waiting for a decision on your Social Security Disability Claim. If Social Security approves your disability claim, Social Security will pay you the difference between your Disability Benefit and your Reduced Retirement Benefit for the months that you are eligible for both. Thereafter, you will continue to receive your Disability Benefits.