Many Americans nearing retirement age are understandably nervous about the future of Social Security under the Trump/Musk regime. More people are claiming benefits early to hedge their bets against potential cuts or disruptions. First-time benefit claims jumped from roughly 500,000 in March of 2024 to 580,000 this year. These early filers are right to be concerned.
The Trump administration, largely via Elon Musk’s DOGE operation, is slashing the workforce and closing offices at the Social Security Administration, which delivers earned benefits for 73 million people. According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 75% of U.S. adults are worried “a great deal or a fair amount” about Social Security, “a 13-year high.”
The Trump/Musk team has announced drastic policy changes creating administrative hurdles for seniors and people with disabilities. Field offices have closed; wait times on the 1-800 phone line have ballooned again; and the agency’s website has crashed several times since Trump took office. The administration even announced that it was reclassifying some legal immigrants as “dead,” so that they cannot use their Social Security numbers or collect benefits.
But while it is understandable that some people are rushing to claim Social Security benefits early, this isn’t necessarily the best strategy. For many years, we have encouraged people to delay claiming benefits as long as they can afford to. We even ran a public education campaign in 2018 called Delay & Gain about this very topic.
Full retirement age is now 67. That’s when you can collect your full retirement benefit. You can file for Social Security as early as 62, but every year you claim early triggers an 8% lifetime benefit cut. Conversely, if you wait to claim until age 70, your lifetime benefit is higher than claiming at full retirement age.
“Cutting your benefits by claiming early so that your future benefits won’t be cut is kind of like ‘self-deporting.’ In an attempt to protect yourself, you may make things worse,” said Dan Adcock, our Director of Government Relations and Policy.
It’s a risky proposition to claim early and take the hit in lifetime benefits — out of the very reasonable worry that Trump’s presidency threatens the integrity of the Social Security system. While Trump and Musk can throw sand in the gears of the Social Security Administration, it would take an act of Congress to cut statutory benefits. Any legislation changing Social Security requires at least 60 votes in the Senate, which is a hard number to reach in today’s politically divided environment.
Trump & Musk’s interference with Social Security has drawn protests across the country
This is not to say that some congressional Republicans wouldn’t love to cut benefits, even if they don’t admit that what they propose are, in fact, benefit cuts. GOP proposals include raising the retirement age to 69 or 70, means testing Social Security, and reducing annual Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs). But they still would need 60 votes in the Senate.
We do not take Trump’s promise “not to touch” Social Security very seriously, but so far he has not endorsed any congressional proposals to actually cut benefits. He has, however, pushed to eliminate taxes on benefits, which would accelerate the projection depletion of the Social Security trust fund reserves.
What to do, then, if you are nervous about Social Security during the second Trump era? We recently posted some tips for protecting your benefits & data, from our senior Social Security expert, Maria Freese:
1. Create a Personal My Social Security account on SSA’s website
With a My Social Security account, you will be less reliant on the telephone or local field offices to transact business with SSA.
2. Acquire and Save Your Earnings Record
If you have My Social Security account, you have access to your earnings records through SSA. We recommend you download all of your records to your personal computer and make a printed copy, which you save in a secure location.
3. Regularly Review Your Financial Transactions & Track Your Credit History
Regularly checking your accounts and credit history is a good habit to follow at any time, but especially now with so much personal financial information held by SSA at risk of exposure through DOGE activities.
4. Verify Your Identity with SSA in Person
Verifying your identity in advance, when you are not under time pressure and while field offices remain open, could serve as a legitimate back-up option if creating a My Social Security account is not possible.
For most people, taking these commonsense actions is the best way to protect yourself during this time of upheaval. Pre-emptively cutting your own lifetime benefits by claiming early is likely to do more harm than good.
“Claim benefits when it is best for you financially — not because you are afraid of the negative impact of Trump and Musk’s attack on the SSA,” says Freese. “Don’t let Donald Trump and the richest man in the world force you into a poorer retirement.”