Retirement is a time of joy for most United States citizens. Starting to collect a Social Security check means stopping working more often than not. At least that should be our goal from the first moment we start working.
Therefore, getting a good check should be our number 1 priority. And while we can see all kinds of tips everywhere on how to increase your Social Security check, none of them take the big picture into account. That’s why this guide to increasing your retirement check can be called an advanced guide.
Even so, it is true that it may not be useful for all citizens. The data this guide is based on is Social Security‘s own official data. Ultimately, the retirement check rules are the same for all Americans. If you want to get a bigger benefit just pay attention to this advanced guide to get the best Social Security check possible.
Tips for getting the biggest Social Security check possible
Social Security checks arrive every month to retired United States citizens. The final amount of each check is calculated from three elemental factors. It is the combination of these factors that makes up a good benefit.
It is common to think of increasing one of these three factors and leaving out the other two. But all three are equally important and we should never abandon any of them. Therefore, let’s look at the three elements and how they interact with the other two.
Year of retirement
The year of retirement is key and could be the biggest factor in determining whether or not we get a big check. The Social Security Administration takes 30% of our contributed benefit if we retire at Early Retirement Age, i.e., age 62.
So any retiree who waits a little longer may have a better benefit. However, if we want to retire early, we should maximize the other two aspects as much as possible. In this sense we could never get the monthly benefit of $4,555 per month, but we would be close.
Salary before receiving Social Security
Salary is another important point to have a good check in the future. With a good salary we will pay more taxes. The more taxes we pay, the better retirement we will have. The Social Security check depends on the taxes we paid when we were working.
In the case of not having a very large salary, we must increase the other two factors. In this case, the ideal is to increase the retirement age to the maximum. Waiting until the age of 70 can be key to have a good monthly check.
Years worked
If the minimum number of years worked to get Social Security is 10, maximizing this factor means working a few more years. Specifically, the Administration averages our 35 highest-paid years.
In the case of not reaching 35 years worked, each year without salary adds 0 to that average. For this reason, it is better to work for 35 years with an average salary than a few years with a very high salary.
If we find that this element cannot be maximized, we may have a problem. Therefore, we must work for at least 35 years with an average salary. To that we have to add retiring as late as possible.