Social Security Benefits: Ideas To Help You Maximize Your Social Security Income



There are numerous choices to consider, both psychologically and monetarily, as you prepare to retire. One of the primary decisions you'll have to make is at what age to begin collecting your Social Security retirement benefits. Some of the questions you may want to think about include:

Should you begin Social Security at age 62 or 66, or even later?

At what age should your spouse start collecting Social Security?

What happens to your spouse's benefits (and yours) when he/she dies?

Should you apply for benefits based on your earnings or your spouses earnings?

Is it possible to collect on an ex-spouse's benefits?

In case your head wasn't spinning before, it is now! Here are some tips to help you get the maximum Social Security retirement income you are entitled to:

Increase Your Social Security Income:

Your Social Security retirement benefits is dependent on your top 35 years of salary as a result it's critical to get as many "high earning" years in as possible. For this reason, staying at work for just one year longer at a good earning job could create a big difference in your retirement income.

Delay Receiving Your Social Security Retirement Income:

Social Security penalizes you for each month you take your Social Security before you reach your full retirement age, with the highest penalty being 25% if where you start collecting benefits at age 62. Although beginning your benefits earlier may very well be luring, those who are willing to wait can increase their Social Security income by as much as 30% (including inflation increases) just by holding out until full retirement age.

Work Part-Time During Retirement:

While you're limited in how much you are able to make when you're below full retirement age and receiving Social Security, as you reach full retirement age you may earn as much as you desire without your retirement benefits being decreased. Yet another suggestion may be to get a part-time job once you retire and delay taking Social Security benefits.

Apply for Benefits Based on Your Spouse's Benefits:

Whenever you are married, you are allowed to withdraw Social Security spousal benefits based on your earnings, or you can collect half of your spouse's benefit, whichever is greater. If you and your spouse aren't the same age, you will need to do some planning to guarantee you get the maximum benefits, however this is definitely a technique to consider if one spouse earns substantially more than the other, and also if one spouse has been away from the work force for a few years.

Tap Into Your Ex Spouse's Benefits:

The spousal benefit applies to ex-spouses too. If you were married to your ex-spouse for a minimum of 10 years, and you aren't presently married to another individual, you could collect up to 50% of your ex spouse's benefits. You do not have to communicate with your ex-spouse to apply for your benefits; in fact they may never find out if you don't tell them, also it won't have an effect on their own benefits in any way.

These are just a couple of tactics to help you to increase your Social Security income. Withdrawing your Social Security retirement benefits can be a very complex decision and can have an effect on the rest of your retirement, so make sure you speak with a specialist prior to you making any decisions on your own.

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