The new year has already brought several significant financial changes, including changes to the Social Security benefits ...

You become eligible for Social Security benefits at age 62, but you must wait until your full retirement age (FRA) to apply ...

If you're at least 60 but not yet at Social Security's definition of "full retirement age," your payout will be somewhere in the range of 71% to 99% of your deceased spouse's full benefit.

To qualify for Social Security payments upon retirement ... In 2025, the monetary definition of a work credit is changing. To earn a work credit in 2024, a person needed to earn $1,730.