Do you spend more time making money than you do managing the money that you already have?
For those of us tiptoeing toward the Social Security (S.S.) deadline, did you know that by appropriately managing your benefits, you can earn tens of thousands more dollars or more in retirement?
That’s right, managing when you and your partner take your Social Security benefits can be equivalent to giving yourself a juicy raise in your retirement paycheck.
How Can I Tell if I’m On Track for Retirement?>>>>
By poking around the Social Security Website you may even uncover more data about the question, ‘Why Delay Social Security Benefits?’
I signed up at the online Social Security website a few months ago and drilled down into proposed benefit scenarios for my spouse and me. It was thrilling to find out that we can expect a decent income stream from Uncle Sam.
So here’s a quick kick in the seat to get you planning for retirement. Understand why to delay Social Security benefits.
Take a few moments away from making money to manage what may be your greatest retirement income stream.
Sign up at Social Security and Find Out Why To Delay Social Security Benefits
The Social Security Website may be your best wealth building tool.
1. Sign into your account at socialsecurity.gov/myaccount.
2. Keep track of your earnings and make sure they’re accurate.
3. If you’re still working, get and estimate of your future benefits.
4. Manage your benefits, if you need to change your address, adjust a direct deposit, get a replacement Medicare card or any other activities.
5. Check out these amazing Social Security calculators. Get an idea of your future S.S. income from the Retirement Estimator, Life Expectancy Calculator, Retirement Age Calculator and more.
Final Social Security Tip-Worth Thousands (or More)
Why delay Social Security benefits?
According to the CNN Money Ultimate Retirement guide;
“Your benefits payment goes up 8% for every year after full retirement age that you delay collecting payments. Until you turn 70, of course – that’s the longest you can delay. There’s no benefit to delaying past age 70; you’d just be throwing money away.”
If your full retirement age is 66 and you wait until age 70 to collect benefits here’s an example of how much more you’ll receive at age 70. If your benefit at age 66 is $1,000 per month then waiting until age 70 to collect gives you $320 more, or $1,320 per month.
Read more: Should I Invest in an Annuity?
That’s almost and additional $4,000 per year. That’s a lot of motivation to wait and claim your Social Security benefits. If you live until age 85 then delaying your Social Security benefits until age 70 will net you approximately an additional $60,000 during your lifetime, on a base $1,000 per month benefit.
Of course those calculations are just estimates. Your base benefit may be much greater than $1,000 and thus the age 70 benefit will also rise. Then there’s the opportunity for inflation increases to the benefit over time as well.
On the other hand, maybe you take the earlier S.S. benefit, don’t spend it but invest it from age 66 until age 70. Then you have a completely different scenario. You can compare that lifetime net present value with the alternative of waiting until age 70 to start collecting your Social Security benefits.
When thinking about, ‘why delay social security benefits’, the best alternative is to head over to MySocialSecurity.com, plug in your own assumptions and see how your personal financial future plays out.
Calculations have been amended from original post.
