One neat thing about Social Security is that eligible recipients get a choice as to when to start taking benefits. If you want to retire early, you can sign up for Social Security as early at age 62, albeit at a reduced rate.

But if you're willing to sit tight a bit longer, you can hold off on filing for Social Security until full retirement age (FRA), which is when you're entitled to your full monthly benefit based on your personal earnings history. FRA is 66, 67, or somewhere in between, depending on when you were born.

However, there's also the option to delay your Social Security claim until the age of 70. Beyond that point, you could technically wait to file, but there's no financial incentive to do so. But for each year you delay your claim beyond FRA, up until age 70, your monthly benefits get to grow 8%.

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Source Fool.com