One of the biggest factors to consider in retirement planning is when to start Social Security and how much you could receive. While the average retiree will receive $2,079 in benefits this month, some could receive much more.
Several factors can affect your monthly retirement benefit, but the two biggest are how much you earned during your career and when you decide to start collecting. If you want to receive the maximum benefit possible, you'll have to work a very long and high-paying career. Most, though, will probably be better off receiving less.
Here's what everyone needs to know.
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The maximum benefit possible in 2026
Your Social Security benefit is primarily determined by your earnings throughout your career. But if you're a high earner, you might find your Social Security record doesn't reflect your exact earnings.
The Social Security Administration caps total wages subject to Social Security tax each year. The cap is known as the maximum taxable earnings or the contribution and benefits base. Any earnings above the cap don't count toward your Social Security benefit calculation, but you also won't pay Social Security tax on them. The cap is adjusted for wage inflation every year.
Your Social Security benefit at full retirement age is based on your 35 highest years of earnings adjusted for inflation. If you earned above the contribution and benefits base for 35 years, you'll be in line for a very big Social Security check once you start receiving benefits.
As mentioned, the age at which you claim can have a significant impact on how much you receive in Social Security retirement benefits. That difference is magnified when you look at the maximum benefit at each age between 62 (the earliest possible claiming age) and age 70 (when delaying retirement no longer increases your benefit). The table below shows the maximum benefit for each age, assuming you start benefits the month of your birthday in 2026.
| Age | 62 and 1 month* | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Benefit | $2,969 | $3,104 | $3,257 | $3,467 | $3,752 | $4,207 | $4,506 | $4,813 | $5,181 |
Data source: Social Security Administration. Calculations by author. *The earliest possible start in practice.
While those monthly payments may look appealing, many high earners will likely be better off settling for less.
Receiving the maximum benefit comes with a big catch
There's an important detail in how Social Security adjusts your past earnings for inflation that has a significant impact on the requirements to receive the maximum benefit in any given year. The indexing factor used to adjust your past earnings is tied to the year you turn 60. Any earnings after age 60 won't receive an inflation adjustment.
But while your past earnings don't receive an inflation adjustment after 60, the contribution and benefits base continues increasing with inflation every year. As a result, your earnings in your 60s can be worth more than the maximum taxable earnings from earlier in your career.
If you want to maximize your possible inflation-adjusted earnings, you'll have to continue working past age 60. In fact, you'll have to work every year right up until you start collecting benefits if you want to receive the maximum possible from Social Security in the year you start benefits. What's more, you could continue to increase your benefit if you keep working while collecting benefits, as long as you're earning above the contribution and benefits base.
While some people truly enjoy their work and will want to continue working into their 60s, 70s, and beyond, most people will likely enjoy a more traditional retirement age. And if you've already spent 35 years earning a relatively high wage, the amount you could increase your benefit by continuing to work up until retirement might not be worthwhile. In fact, there are some significant opportunity costs you'd forego.
How much is maxing out Social Security actually worth?
The marginal benefit of continuing to work right up until retirement can be pretty small. To take an extreme example, imagine someone born in 1956, turning 70 this year. They graduated from college at 22 and started a career with a very good paycheck, earning above the maximum taxable earnings for Social Security. They worked 35 years in that career and retired early at age 57. If they waited until age 70 to start Social Security this year, they'd receive a monthly check of $4,940. That's $241 per month (or $2,892 per year) less than the maximum possible for a 70-year-old.
Meanwhile, your mid-60s, between retiring from work and starting Social Security, is an opportune time to make strategic moves in your retirement portfolio to reduce your lifetime tax liability. You can make Roth conversions from your traditional IRA or 401(k) at a low tax rate, which will reduce your future required minimum distributions (RMDs). You may also be able to take capital gains and pay 0% in taxes on them while you control your income from retirement accounts.
Those strategies can become unfeasible by the time you start collecting Social Security. A Roth conversion or capital gains harvesting could lead to double taxation, as it makes more of your Social Security benefits taxable. Once you start taking RMDs, you could face quite a hefty tax bill unless you plan well in advance for strategies to reduce them. Those RMDs could increase the taxes you pay on your Social Security benefits. On top of that, they could also lead to higher Medicare premiums due to the income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA).
The tax savings from smart planning in your 60s could substantially outweigh the extra Social Security income you'll receive from continuing to work. That's especially true if you've been a high earner for a long time and diligently saved for retirement in your tax-advantaged accounts. While there's no problem continuing to work right up to (and past) claiming Social Security, doing so just to max out Social Security isn't necessarily the best move.
