When should you start taking your Social Security benefits? Timing matters. You can start as early as age 62. But waiting can boost the amount you receive over the rest of your life in retirement. “For every year that you wait, you get about 8% a year more up to age 70,” said Judith Ward, a senior financial planner for T. Rowe Price. Someone earning $100,000 a year who starts to collect at age 62 would get $21,879 in 2014, according to the T.