Social Security Retirement Benefits: Guidelines To Help You Get The Most Out Of Your Social Security

There's a lot of choices to consider, both emotionally as well as monetarily

, as you plan for retirement. One of the most important choices you will have to make is when to start receiving your Social Security income. A few of the issues you may want to take into consideration include:

What age should you begin receiving Social Security - 62, 66 or 70? When should your spouse start collecting Social Security? Will you receive your spouse's benefits if he/she dies before you? Can you collect on your spouse's earnings record if he/she earned more than you? Is it possible to collect on your ex-spouse's benefits?

In case your mind wasn't spinning before, it is now! Below are some tips and ideas to help you get the most out of your Social Security retirement benefits:

Increase Your Social Security Income:

Your retirement benefit will depend on your highest 35 years of earnings which means that it is critical to get as many "high earning" years in as possible. Because of this, staying at work for even one year more at a significant earning job might make an impact in your retirement benefit.

Hold off Getting Your Social Security Income:

Social Security penalizes you for every month you receive your Social Security before you reach your full retirement age; the maximum penalty is 25% for people who start taking benefits at age 62. Although starting your benefits early may very well be luring, those people who are patient can raise their Social Security retirement income by as much as 30% (including cost of living adjustments) by waiting until full retirement age.

Work Part-Time During Retirement:

While you're restricted in how much money you can be paid when you are under full retirement age and collecting Social Security, as soon as you attain full retirement age you may make as much as you desire without your retirement benefits being lowered. Yet another plan may be to take a part-time job when you finally retire so that you can postpone collecting Social Security benefits.

Collect Based on Your Husband or Wife's Benefits:

When you're married, you are allowed to apply for Social Security retirement benefits based on your income, or you can collect half of your spouse's benefit, whichever is bigger. If you and your spouse are not the same age, you may need to do some planning to make certain you maximize your benefits, but this may possibly be a technique to think about if one spouse earns significantly more compared to the other, and also if one spouse has been away from the work force for quite some time.

Draw on Your Ex's Benefits:

The spousal benefit applies to ex-spouses too. If you were married to your ex-spouse for not less than 10 years, and you aren't currently married to someone else, you are able to collect as much as 50% of your ex spouse's benefits. You don't have to talk to your ex-spouse to apply for your benefits; in reality they may never find out if you don't tell them, also it will not influence their own benefits in the slightest.

These are just some tips to help you to increase your Social Security retirement income. Applying for your Social Security retirement income can be an extremely difficult decision and may have an impact on the rest of your retirement, so you should work with a professional before you make any decisions on your own.

by: Krissi Ann.

POST COMMENT

Full Retirement In Arizona Quantum 50+ Retirement Resort How To Learn About Investing With Mutual Funds Retirement Age - How Long Until You Can Retire? An Introduction to US Defense Lawyers How Soon Should I Start Saving For Retirement? Why You Should Start Saving For Retirement As Early As Possible Tacoma Social Security Lawyer For Disability Claim Relevance With Grasping Foreign Exchange Investing Just For Earnings Finding An S1 Lawyer That Wont Kill Your Chances Of Going Public What Does Preparing for Retirement Have to do With Living the RichLife? Investing In India Investing In Stocks