Social Security retirement checks are capped at $4,555 per month for United States aged retirees. This means that a beneficiary can reach that figure as a maximum within benefits. Still, it’s not easy to get a check that high for our golden years.
Still, many Americans try to maximize their benefit in order to get the best possible break when they stop working. While it is true that all Americans can get the maximum $4,555 per month, sometimes it is not advisable to try. There are alternative ways to get extra money every month so you can live on a smaller check.
If you have already started to collect your Social Security check, it is possible to increase it, although it does not make sense to do so. Still, it is possible and it all depends on each individual case. The best thing to do is to plan well in advance. With something like this, reaching a good Social Security check is possible and having an optimal retirement is also possible.
Increasing your retirement check
In the case of having already applied for Social Security, increasing the retirement check is possible, albeit a bit complicated. As long as we work before the age of 70, we will be able to increase our benefit. Even so, remember that the pensioner’s pension is calculated on the basis of the 35 years worked with the highest salary.
If our working years after retirement will not have a higher salary, there is no point in trying. The only thing we will achieve is to delay our time of rest, since we will not get a significant increase in our benefit. What is certain is that by working overtime we will be able to save money.
In the case of wanting to increase the retirement check before applying for a pensioner’s pension, we can take three things into account:
Retirement age
At age 62 any American who has worked a minimum of 10 years of time (regardless of whether it is uninterrupted or not) can apply for Social Security. However, doing so means losing 30% of the money contributed.
The closer we are to 67 years of age, the better check we will have. It is at this age that we can apply for our 100% benefit. Even so, in order to get the maximum of $4,555 per month we will have to wait until age 70.
Years worked
With 10 years worked we can apply for a Social Security benefit. However, we will not get a good check in that case. In order to get a good benefit we must work a minimum of 35 years.
Each year we do not work below that number, our check will drop significantly. And the Administration will add $0 to the average for each year we do not work. So we must work that minimum number of years in order to get a good benefit.
Wage check as a worker
If our Social Security benefit comes from our taxes it is easy to understand that the more taxes paid the better the benefit. Therefore, we should always get the highest paycheck possible.
In the event that we do not get a good salary does not mean that we cannot get a good check. At the end of the day, these three elements add up, so we can achieve a good Social Security without having the biggest check possible.