Social Security claims are surging, in part because of Trump. When should you take your benefits?

But something has changed recently. According to data analyzed by the Urban Institute, the number of claims for Social Security in the most recent six months has surged about 15 percent higher than the previous year.

Why are so many people rushing to claim their Social Security benefit?

One possible reason is the Trump administration. While President Trump has repeatedly pledged not to harm Social Security, that didn’t stop him from making wild — and unproven — charges of gross waste, fraud, and abuse in the Social Security system. Elon Musk also undermined public confidence in Social Security when he disparaged it as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

In addition, the annual report of the trustees of Social Security, released this week, says the system’s finances worsened last year as a result of a law passed by Congress that expands benefits for some public employees. That law, plus other factors, prompted the trustees to project the program would run out of money nine months earlier than previously predicted, in 2033.

Benefits could be slashed by more than 20 percent if Congress doesn’t step in to bolster Social Security’s funding before 2033, according to projections. The report is likely to further rattle older Americans as they contemplate when to take their benefit.

Here are some things to know about Social Security benefits:

If you and your family can afford to delay taking your benefit, and your health is reasonably good, then delay is a good strategy. Every year you wait to take your benefit after reaching “full retirement age” (for most of us, age 67), your benefit goes up 8 percent. It’s like making an investment in yourself: You give up a present-day reward for a much bigger one later. (“Full retirement age” is a misnomer; you may think it means the age at which you are entitled to full benefits, but it’s not. You need to delay until 70 to get that.)

The average monthly Social Security benefit for a retiree is now roughly $2,000. (Your benefit is based on how much you paid into the system during your working years; the higher your earnings, the higher the amount you paid in, and thus the higher the benefit you receive.) Let’s say your benefit is $2,000 at full retirement age. If you wait until age 70, your benefit is about $2,500, $500 more a month for the rest of your life.

Your benefit amount is based on your highest 35 years of earnings, adjusted for inflation. The 35 years are selected from your lifetime earnings record, and the average of these determines your benefit. The formula is progressive, meaning lower-income earners receive a greater percentage of their lifetime earnings compared to high-income workers.

You are first eligible for your benefit at age 62, but at a significant reduction, compared to taking it at full retirement age. Let’s say your benefit, if you take it at full retirement age, is $2,000. If you instead take it at age 62 (almost five years early), your benefit is reduced by $600 a month, to $1,400. That’s a 30 percent reduction compared to full retirement age, and a 44 percent reduction compared to taking it at age 70.

For its first 50 years, Social Security set 65 as the full retirement age. But in the 1980s, Congress pushed the full retirement age two years higher due to higher anticipated costs linked to increased life expectancy. Now, the full retirement age is 67 for people born in 1960 or later. For those born before 1960, full retirement age can be anywhere between 65 and 66 and 10 months, depending on your year of birth. (The older you are, the lower the full retirement age.)

No, Social Security is an earned benefit. To be eligible you must earn wages or self-employment income and pay a 6.2 percent tax on those earnings (matched by 6.2 percent paid by your employer or you if self-employed). And you need to have worked and paid into the system for a minimum of 10 years.

First, let’s acknowledge that it all depends on how long you and your spouse live (assuming you or your spouse will claim the other’s benefit as a survivor). Let’s say you were born in 1958 and are approaching your full retirement age and that your monthly benefit would be $2,000. If you delay taking your benefit for a year, you give up $24,000 in income ($2,000 x 12 months). But by delaying, you increase your benefit by $160 a month, once you begin it a year later. You need to determine your break-even point: At $160 a month, how long will it take to make up the $24,000 you didn’t take? Answer: 12.5 years. It may seem like a long time but, according to the actuaries, most of us will live past it.

The Social Security Administration says the average number of years a now-67-year-old male can expect to live is 17.8 (20.2 for a female). In the case of the male in the example above, life expectancy is more than five years past the break-even point, meaning he is expected to enjoy a lifetime gain of about $10,000 ($160 a month times 60 months), putting aside “opportunity cost.” (Check out this Social Security “life expectancy calculator.”)

By not taking that $24,000 in your first year of full retirement age eligibility, you missed the opportunity to invest that money. The stock market has historically averaged an annual return of about 10 percent, but it comes with some risk . But Even safer investments, like a certificate of deposit, produce a return. That’s the opportunity you are missing. When you factor in opportunity cost, the break-even point stretches to about 14 years in most estimates.

If you are married and a higher earner than your spouse, you may want to forego taking your benefit as long as possible. That’s because a surviving spouse takes either their own Social Security or their deceased spouse’s benefit, whichever is higher. So, if your spouse has little or no earnings upon which to base their own benefit, you can maximize their survivor benefit by delaying yours.

Theoretically, it’s not a factor because your Social Security benefit is adjusted annually for inflation, known as a COLA (cost-of-living adjustment). The most recent COLA was 2.5 percent. During the Biden administration, when inflation dramatically surged, the COLA ranged as high as 8.7 percent.

When you need it to live on. Another reason is when your life expectancy is short.

Trump has repeatedly voiced support for eliminating taxes on Social Security income. But the Trump-backed budget bill the House passed last month did not include that. Instead the bill (now pending before the Senate) provides a temporary $4,000 deduction for income-qualified taxpayers 65 and older.

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