How do you maximize your Social Security

Did you know?

• There are 567 ways to claim your Social Security – which one is right for you?
• If you make a wrong choice, you could miss out on thousands of dollars in income over your lifetime.
• Many make mistakes when claiming Social Security that can reduce benefits by as much as 70% or more.
• Social Security employees cannot advise you on how to maximize your benefit.
• After 12 months, there is no do-over, your decision is permanent.

There are over 567 ways to claim Social Security. It is not a matter of just signing up. Choosing how and when to receive your benefits is an involved task, and for many it might be one of the most important decisions you will make in retirement.

I received a call recently from a valued client and she was particularly upset over the amount of her Social Security benefit she had just “signed up for.” She told me that she was due $296 per month and that one of her best friends was receiving “over $1000 per month.” Margaret was primarily a stay at home mother with not much of an earnings history of her own. Her husband, Mike, was a very successful business man, and at 68 years old, he had not yet claimed his own Social Security payout.

I told Margaret, there was good news. There is a very common strategy known as, “file and suspend” which we needed to investigate. I have access to a very sophisticated Social Security calculator tool which helps to give us a road map as how to best maximize benefits. I entered Margaret and Mike’s information into the calculator and the results made Margaret smile. If Mike would start and suspend his benefit, Margaret could claim a spousal benefit for the next two years. This meant that her payment in 2015 would be $12,200 and increase to $14,700 in 2016. This gave Margaret almost $20,000 in extra payments she did not know she was entitled to, quite a nice windfall.