Been thinking about claiming Social Security early while still working? Here's something important to consider before you make that move.

So the thing is, if you're under your full retirement age (FRA) - that's 67 for most of us born in 1960 or later - and you start collecting, you're looking at potentially losing up to 30% of your monthly benefit right off the bat. But that's just the beginning of the social security points worth understanding.

There's this earnings test that most people don't realize exists. If you're still working and haven't hit your FRA yet, the government actually reduces your checks based on how much you're earning. For 2026, if you're under your FRA all year, you lose $1 in benefits for every $2 you make over $24,480. If you'll reach your FRA sometime in 2026, it's $1 for every $3 over $65,160 (at least until your birth month). This can seriously wipe out your checks - like, completely eliminate them some months depending on your salary.

Here's a practical example: say you're eligible for around $2,075 monthly and you're making $75,000 at your job. That's $50,520 over the limit. That's enough to zero out your entire year's worth of benefits. Pretty eye-opening, right?

But here's the good news - and this is one of those crucial social security points everyone should know. That money isn't gone forever. When you finally reach your FRA, Social Security bumps up your benefit to compensate for what they held back. If they cut off a whole year of payments, they essentially treat it like you claimed a year later than you actually did. That means bigger monthly checks for life.

Once you hit your FRA, the earnings limit disappears too. You can make whatever you want without losing benefits. Though higher income might trigger taxes on your Social Security, which is another social security points to factor in.

The real takeaway here: if you're still working and don't urgently need the money, waiting might actually be smarter. Every month you delay boosts your benefit, which could give you significantly more over your lifetime. It's one of those social security points that completely changes the math for a lot of people. Worth thinking through before you claim.