The greatest fear for most Americans today is not death, but the risk of outliving their assets during retirement – 61% in fact. If you happen to fall into that statistic, you may be wondering what the best strategy is to maximize your social security benefits and create a financial plan that will minimize your taxes so you can live the prosperous retirement you’ve always dreamed of.

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The biggest effect you can have when maximizing your benefits is the time you claim. You have the option to claim social security anywhere between the ages of 62 and 70. The longer you wait, the more benefit you will receive.

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For example, if a person receives $2,000 per month in social security at their full retirement age of 66, they would receive 25% less – or $1,500 - if they had signed up at age 62. If they waited until age 70 to collect, they’d receive $2,640 per month – that’s a 32% increase compared to their full retirement age benefits! And over a $1,100 of what they would have received at age 62.

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Another possible way to get the most out of your social security income would be to utilize spousal payments. If you’re looking to postpone receiving benefits because you want to minimize your taxable income and maximize the amount of benefits you receive later down the road, you can choose to file and suspend payments now until a later date.

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By filing now, your spouse then becomes eligible for spousal payments. This strategy works best when one person has a higher earnings history while the other one is younger and has had little or no earnings.

If you’re looking to continue working while receiving social security, a factor that we will need to consider is something called the retirement earnings test. The government sets an annual exempt amount that you can earn within a year without having your social security lowered. That exempt amount is increased dramatically when you reach your full retirement age.

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And since your social security benefits are calculated from the top 35 years you’ve earned the highest amount of income, you have the potential to increase your social security in the long-run by continuing to work.   

 

There are other strategies to maximize your social security, but there is no one size fits all plan. Some of our clients are better off claiming social security at age 62 while others at 66, or even 70.

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We’ll work together with you and create a blueprint of your optimal retirement age and decide what strategy to take to maximize your social security.

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Please contact us and fill out the form to show your interest. We will reach out to you within 24-48 hours to discuss further on our Social Security maximization services.