Prism99

You need to make an appointment at your local Social Security office and sit down with a rep to go over your history and benefits. They can tell you ***exactly*** what different retirement dates will mean to you.

One possible difference between Dec 31 and Jan 1 is that it may affect the quarters used by SS to determine your benefits. SS uses a certain number of quarters of work history, and usually the most recent quarters are the ones in which you earned the most money and therefore will yield the bigger SS benefits. I think the quarters worked must be full quarters, so a 1-day difference in your retirement could result in a smaller monthly benefit.

Make an appointment with SS so you know exactly what your options are; then you can make an informed decision.

Edit: Also, full retirement age as calculated by SS varies by your year of birth. I am older than you, and full retirement for me was at age 65. Being younger, your full retirement age might be 66. I believe this affects when you are eligible for Medicare. Before that, you are entirely responsible for your own medical insurance -- and for older women, that can be very pricey! This is another aspect of retirement you need to figure out before you actually retire. Even with the affordable care act, good medical insurance coverage for a woman in her 60's can be quite a large monthly amount -- which you may need to pay for an extra year, depending on when you qualify for Medicare.

Edit2: I Googled, and it looks like everyone is eligible for Medicare at 65 (even if their full retirement age is later). There are so many different things to consider for an individual, it really is wise to sit down with someone at SS and go over your options. They are the experts.