In 2023, the average Social Security benefit is $1,827 per month. That is not a lot of money to help fund your retirement. But the good news is that you do not have to be average. There are plenty of ways to get a larger payment -- although some of the strategies available for supersizing your check work best if you launch them early.
Not sure how to get a bigger benefit? Try these three techniques.
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1. Increase your average wages
Your earnings over your entire career are among the biggest factors in determining your Social Security payment amount because the benefits formula is based on your average wages. So it stands to reason that if you earn more, your average wage will go up and your benefit will be bigger.
Since the Social Security Administration looks at average wages over a long period of time, the sooner you can increase your income -- and the more years you can earn a high wage -- the bigger the impact on your benefits. So start trying to boost earnings when you're as young as possible.
One obvious way to raise your wages now and your retirement benefit later is to improve your skills so you can get a higher-paying job. But you can also try out a side gig, because the income from it will also count when your benefits are calculated.
2. Work more than 35 years
As mentioned above, the Social Security Administration bases benefits on average wages over a total of 35 years of earnings. Your benefits will end up equaling a percentage of your inflation-adjusted salary during the 35 years in which you earned the most.
If your career spans exactly 35 years, every one of the years you worked will be included in your benefits formula. This will include those years during which you were getting your career off the ground and might not have made much money, were unemployed for part of the time, or took off a few months to care for family or to travel. In other words, some of the years included in your formula might not have been very lucrative ones.
If you are making more money later in life than you did in some of your prior years, consider staying on the job for a little longer. That will enable some of these current high-earning years to replace some of the less lucrative ones that would otherwise count when your Social Security check amount is determined. The longer you work at a higher salary, the better your chances of beating the average benefit.
3. Delay your Social Security benefits claim
Finally, delaying the age at which you claim your Social Security benefits can go a long way toward helping you earn a bigger check because you get a higher monthly payment for every month you wait beyond age 62 (the age at which you first become eligible for a retirement benefit). In fact, payments can increase up to age 70.
Many people claim retirement benefits far younger than age 70 because they don't want to work that long or because their savings can't be their sole source of support. But if you can find a way to delay your claim, it could pay off big-time.
Ultimately, the more of these steps you take, the more you can supersize your Social Security checks -- and the more financial security these retirement benefits will be able to offer you in your later years.
