by Getting the most out of your Social Security benefits is an essential part of inancial planning for your retirement. Learn how to avoid making the mistakes that can affect your benefits in the future. You also need to know how you can boost your benefits so that you can take advantage of what you can get from Social Security in the future. Here are some of the way you can do just that.
Check For Errors
One of the most basic things to do when you wish to ensure that you can get the most out of your Social Security is to make sure that it is accurate. Try to look at the Social Security statement that you get every year. If you assume that everything is correct and accurate, you might miss out on some calculations that may have an effect on your Social Security benefits later on. It is always important to identify these mistakes and correct them before they end up losing you some income in terms of future Social Security benefits.
Work Those 35 Years
Although you can be eligible for Social Security benefits for working in as little as 10 years, you should bear in mind that your Social Security benefits are calculated based on the 35 of your highest earning years. Those years not included as work can have an effect on your benefits later on. So try to work those 35 years to ensure that you can get the most of your entitled benefits.
Delay Getting Your Social Security Benefits
Another way to boost your future Social Security benefits is to try and delay getting them once you are eligible for retirement. The earliest eligibility for retirement is at 62 years old. Availing benefits at this age can reduce them by as much as 20 to 30 percent of the full benefit. If you delay availing of the benefits until the full benefit age of 66 years old will get you the full benefits. But if you delay getting them further, the benefits you get increase to an average of 8 percent for every year you delay collecting the benefits.
