3 Unexpected Ways to Claim More in Social Security
Even if you manage to amass a tidy sum in your retirement nest egg, you may still come to rely on Social Security to cover a significant portion of your budget once your career wraps up. That's especially likely if your golden-years game plan includes expenses such as extensive travel.
Now, you may already know some of the basic tricks for boosting the size of your monthly Social Security benefit. One commonly used tactic is to delay your filing past your full retirement age. For each year beyond it that you hold off -- up until age 70 -- your monthly benefit will get an 8% boost. Or, on the flip side, simply holding off until you hit your full retirement age -- between 66 and 67 for today's workers -- will be a serious help, as it will spare you the benefit cuts of 5% to 6.7% a year that claiming early would incur. Claim as soon as you're eligible -- when you turn 62 -- and it'll shrink your checks by a whopping 30%.
Delaying Social Security until you're 70 may not be feasible for you. Fortunately, even if it is, there are other steps you can take to increase the size of your monthly benefits. Here are a few worth exploring.
Source Fool.com
