The maximum monthly Social Security benefit you can collect today is $4,555. That amounts to $54,660 a year, which is more than what some of the people I know make by working full-time.
There was a time when I was really motivated to snag as high a monthly Social Security benefit as possible. But lately, I've changed my tune about Social Security. And I definitely have no intentions of stressing myself out in the hopes of collecting whatever the maximum monthly benefit is by the time I reach retirement age. Here's why.
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There are too many factors I can't control
To snag the maximum monthly Social Security benefit, you need to do a few things:
- Work for at least 35 years
- Earn a really high income for 35 years (specifically, the equivalent of each year's wage cap for Social Security tax purposes)
- Delay your filing until the age of 70
The first factor seems easy enough. I started working full-time at age 22 after graduating college. I won't tell you exactly how many years I've been working since then, but let's just say that a 35-year career seems doable, provided I don't run into health issues that render me unable to hold down a job.
It's the second two factors that are tougher. I'm grateful to earn a generous wage now, but I do that by working really long hours and giving up things like downtime and sleep. I don't know that my current schedule will be feasible as I get older, so I can't bank on earning enough money for the rest of my career to qualify for the maximum monthly payday Social Security will give out.
I also don't know that planning to sign up for Social Security at age 70 is a good idea. While that was my intent for a long time, I've recently started thinking that an earlier filing might be better because it takes a lot of the pressure off. So all told, I really can't say with any sort of confidence that when my retirement rolls around, I'll be eligible for the most amount of money Social Security is willing to pay.
A better use of my energy
Rather than stress about how much Social Security is going to pay me each month during retirement, I prefer to push myself to work hard so I can save and invest more money. These days, I max out my solo 401(k) and also put money into a brokerage account that I have earmarked for retirement.
None of that is easy to do, and it requires me to spend carefully and make some sacrifices. But I'm willing to put in the effort because I know how important it is.
Now obviously, I'm going to do my best to land on the right Social Security filing strategy once I get closer to being eligible for benefits. But I absolutely refuse to chase the maximum monthly benefit -- especially not when there are more effective things I can be doing to set myself up for a secure retirement.
