Everything You Need to Know About the Retirement Application Process

You’ve been in the workforce for the past few decades. You’ve climbed the ladder and changed careers. And now you’re ready to hang up your skates, submit your retirement application, and start enjoying your golden years.

If you’re like most Americans, maybe you’ve dreamed of retiring at 62. But even if you’ve waited until 65, 66, or even 70, there’s still a retirement application process you have to go through before you can start receiving your payments.

Are you ready to start claiming? Are you unsure about how to apply for retirement? Keep reading to find out what you should know about applying to retire.

1. Qualifying for Retirement

If everyone could start taking retirement at any time, there’d be nothing stopping unscrupulous individuals from making a claim and never working again. For these reasons and then some, you can only claim retirement benefits after you’ve reached a certain age.

However, what that age is depends on when you were born. If your year of birth falls is between 1943 and 1954, you can retire if you’re 66. Everyone born after 1960 needs to be at least 67 in order to claim. And if you were born anywhere from 1955 to 1959, your eligibility age is on a sliding scale.

In addition to your basic age of qualification, however, there are also rules around certain professions like farming or self-employment that have an impact on your ability to claim retirement.

2. Decide If You Really Want to Retire

Although you do have the option of taking early retirement, when you retire can have a major influence on the benefits you receive – namely, it reduces your month-to-month benefits. If it isn’t absolutely critical that you retire right at this minute, you can earn more credits by continuing to work until you turn 70.

But if you’re retiring due to disability, you may be eligible for additional financial help. Whether your conditions have made work impossible or just really, really hard, if you were a federal employee and you’re looking for advice on the disability retirement process, you may be better off speaking with an experienced federal employee disability retirement attorney to explore your options.

3. Prepare Your Documentation

The next step of the application process is your documentation. Along with your social security number, you may be asked to provide details like your banking information, your marriages, and your military history, among other things.

In addition to the standard identity documents and proofs you may need, you may also be asked to prove that you’re a U.S. citizen or to provide a birth certificate. If you’ve been self-employed, you may also be asked to bring a tax return.

4. Either Apply Online or In-Person

At this stage, you’ve mapped out your retirement options, you’ve got your proof of income, and your required documentation. Now all you have to do is submit your application.

In most states, you can either apply online or go to your local retirement office and apply in person.

Submit Your Retirement Application the Easy Way

For many people, retirement is a major life milestone. But before you can sail off into the sunset, you’ll have to make a retirement application. The good news, however, is that once you’ve got the paperwork together, the rest of the process should go by quickly.

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