You might have more control over your monthly Social Security check than you realize.
There are several factors that could change the size of your Social Security retirement benefit, even after you've already applied. If you continue working before reaching full retirement age, you could see a smaller benefit. If you switch to a spousal benefit after your partner claims, you could see an increase in benefits.
Knowing all the rules to Social Security could help you boost your benefit. And one clever hack could increase your monthly check by up to 26.7%, even if you've already been collecting benefits for years.
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The biggest factors impacting your Social Security benefit
If you want to know how to boost your benefit, you first need to understand exactly how the government calculates your monthly check. There are only three factors that go into the calculation:
- How much you earned during your career
- When you were born
- The age you claim benefits
When you apply for retirement benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will take a look at your earnings for each year of your career. It adjusts those earnings by wage inflation before selecting the 35 highest-earning years of your career. It then calculates the average of all those years and divides by 12 to determine your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME).
The SSA then plugs your AIME into the Social Security benefits formula, which determines your primary insurance amount (PIA). The formula takes into account what year you were born, which typically results in a higher PIA for younger people, all else being equal. Your PIA is the amount you'll receive if you claim benefits the month you reach your full retirement age.
The year you were born also determines your full retirement age. Those born between 1943 and 1954 reached full retirement age at 66. But the age increases by two months for each year you were born after 1954 until reaching age 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later.
The last step to determine your monthly benefit is to increase or decrease your PIA based on when you claim benefits. If you claim before your full retirement age, you'll receive a benefit smaller than your PIA. If you wait beyond your full retirement age, you'll receive a benefit bigger than your PIA.
The SSA will give anyone delaying benefits beyond full retirement age delayed retirement credits. Those credits are worth 2/3 of a percentage point of your PIA for each month you delay up to age 70.
The table below shows exactly how your claiming age impacts your benefit relative to your PIA based on when you were born.
| Year Born | Age 62 | Age 63 | Age 64 | Age 65 | Age 66 | Age 67 | Age 68 | Age 69 | Age 70 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943-1954 | 75% | 80% | 86.7% | 93.3% | 100% | 108% | 116% | 124% | 132% |
| 1955 | 74.2% | 79.2% | 85.6% | 92.2% | 98.9% | 106.7% | 114.7% | 122.7% | 130.7% |
| 1956 | 73.3% | 78.3% | 84.4% | 91.1% | 97.8% | 105.3% | 113.3% | 121.3% | 129.3% |
| 1957 | 72.5% | 77.5% | 83.3% | 90% | 96.7% | 104% | 112% | 120% | 128% |
| 1958 | 71.7% | 76.7% | 82.2% | 88.9% | 95.6% | 102.7% | 110.7% | 118.7% | 126.7% |
| 1959 | 70.8% | 75.8% | 81.1% | 87.8% | 94.4% | 101.3% | 109.3% | 117.3% | 125.3% |
| 1960 or later | 70% | 75% | 80% | 86.7% | 93.3% | 100% | 108% | 116% | 124% |
Data source: Social Security. Calculations by author via ssa.gov.
As you can see, delaying benefits up to age 70 could result in a boost to your benefit between 24% and 32%. But there's a way to receive delayed retirement credits even if you've already claimed Social Security.
The clever hack that can boost your benefit
If you claimed Social Security early, but now you want the chance to earn delayed retirement credits, you can ask the Social Security Administration to suspend your benefits.
You can suspend your benefits at any point once you've reached full retirement age up until age 70. When you suspend benefits, you'll temporarily stop receiving your monthly check, but the government will add a delayed retirement credit (based on your previous benefit) for each month you wait to resume benefits. The suspension begins the month after your application is approved and it automatically resumes the month you reach 70 years old if you haven't started them again already.
If someone born in 1958 elects to suspend benefits beginning the month they reach 66 years and 8 months (their full retirement age), they could boost their benefit up to 26.7%. Those past their full retirement age still have a chance to suspend benefits and boost their monthly checks, but they won't be able to increase their checks by as much. Likewise, those with later birthdays won't have as many months to accrue delayed retirement credits, capping out at 25.3% (1959 birthdays) or 24% (1960 or later).
Before you fill out the application to suspend your Social Security checks, there are some important considerations.
First, anyone collecting benefits on your record (a spouse or qualifying child) will no longer be eligible for those same benefits. They'll revert back to their own benefit, if they're eligible.
Additionally, if you're enrolled in Medicare, you'll be responsible for Part B premiums. The SSA typically deducts Medicare Part B premiums from monthly checks, but if you no longer receive a check, you'll be responsible for paying those premiums out of pocket. Be sure you have room in your budget to pay for those premiums without Social Security.
But if you can manage around those factors and go a few years without collecting Social Security the rewards could be worth it. Not only will you receive a boost of up to 26.7%, but you'll also benefit from the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. The COLA not only applies to your original benefit, but the increase in benefits from your delayed retirement credits, compounding into a much bigger benefit when you resume collecting later.
