Born in 1971: your Social Security, Medicare & RMD dates

What is the full retirement age for someone born in 1971?

If you were born in 1971, your full retirement age is 67. You reach it in 2038 — the month you turn 67 — and from then on Social Security pays 100% of your benefit with no earnings test.

Like everyone born after 1959, your full retirement age is 67, the top of the schedule under current law.

Born on January 1, 1971? Social Security says you reach each age on the day before your birthday, so you are grouped with 1970. Your full retirement age is still 67, but it arrives a month sooner, in December 2037. The same rule moves every date one month earlier for anyone born on the 1st of a month.

Your key months, by birthday month

For birthdays on the 3rd through the end of the month. Born on the 2nd: you can claim one month sooner. Born on the 1st: every date moves one month earlier.

How much Social Security do I get at 62, 63 … or 70?

Born in 1971, you get 70% of your full benefit if you start in the month you turn 62 and 124% if you wait until 70. Each year you wait past full retirement age adds 8%; each year you claim early costs 6.7% (5% for years more than three years early).

The 62 row assumes you start in the month you turn 62, which only someone born on the 2nd can do. Everyone else — including people born on the 1st, whom Social Security counts as a month older — starts at 62 and 1 month at the earliest, at 70.4%: $704 for each $1,000 of full benefit.

Our view: treat 62 as the emergency exit, not the plan. The gap between 70% and 124% is the difference between $700 and $1,240 a month for each $1,000 of full benefit, adjusted for inflation for the rest of your life.

Will the earnings limit cut my benefits in 2026 or 2027?

Not yet. The earnings test only matters if you collect benefits before full retirement age while still working, and you can’t claim until 2033. If you do, a yearly limit applies until 2038 — for comparison, it is $25,560 in 2027.

When can I get Medicare if I was born in 1971?

At 65, in 2036. Your Initial Enrollment Period lasts 7 months — the 3 months before your birthday month, the month itself and the 3 months after — and signing up in the first 3 months makes coverage start the month you turn 65.

Your window for each birthday month is in the table above. Medicare doesn’t wait for your Social Security full retirement age of 67: if you aren’t collecting Social Security by 65, you have to sign up yourself — waiting can cost you a late penalty for life.

The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026 and is projected at $209.50 for 2027 Projected. Higher incomes pay more through IRMAA, based on your tax return from two years earlier — check yours with the IRMAA calculator.

When do my required minimum distributions start?

Your RMD age is 75, so your first RMD is for 2046 and is due by April 1, 2047. Every later RMD is due by December 31, so waiting until April means taking two RMDs in 2047. Roth IRAs never require withdrawals while you are alive.

One trap to plan for: if you delay your first RMD to the April 1 deadline, your second is due by December 31 of the same year — two withdrawals in one tax year, which can push you into a higher bracket and raise Medicare premiums through IRMAA two years later. The years before RMDs start are also the cheapest time for Roth conversions.

See your exact amount with the RMD calculator.

Do people born in 1971 get the $6,000 senior deduction?

No, not under current law. The $6,000 senior deduction covers tax years 2025 through 2028 only, and you turn 65 in 2036. Congress could extend it before then, but don't count on it. The regular extra standard deduction for people 65 or older has no end date and will still apply.

When will cost-of-living raises start counting for me?

Your first cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be the one effective December 2033, the year you turn 62, first paid in January 2034. From then on every raise applies to your full benefit amount, whether or not you have claimed. Until then, your future benefit grows with national wages instead.

How long should I plan for my money to last?

Social Security’s actuaries project that a man born in 1971 who reaches 65 lives another 19.9 years on average, and a woman 22.3. Averages hide a long tail: 42.9% of women and 32.5% of men who reach 65 live to 90.

These come from SSA’s cohort life tables (2026 Trustees Report), which build in the improvement in death rates expected over your lifetime. Most websites quote the 2023 period table instead, which freezes death rates at 2023 levels and runs about 1.7 years shorter at 65 for men born in 1971. Our advice: plan to at least 90. Running out of money in your late 80s is a far worse outcome than leaving some behind, and that’s the real case for a bigger, inflation-protected Social Security check.

What is my survivor full retirement age?

If you’re widowed, your survivor full retirement age is 67 — the same as your own full retirement age of 67. Survivor benefits can start at 60 at 71.5% of what the deceased was entitled to, and reach 100% at 67.

The survivor schedule runs two birth years behind the retirement schedule; for your birth year the two happen to line up. A widow or widower can take one benefit early and switch to the other later — for example survivor benefits first and your own, larger benefit at 70. The full survivor table is on our full retirement age chart.

What should people born in 1971 do now?

Check your earnings record now with a my Social Security account — mistakes are much easier to fix before you claim. Then plan around three dates: 62 in 2033, Medicare at 65 in 2036, and full retirement age in 2038.

• Married? The higher earner’s claiming age sets the survivor’s benefit — plan it as a couple.
• Your RMDs won’t start until 2046; the years between retiring and then are prime time for Roth conversions.