13 Ways to Maximize Your Social Security Benefits

Social Security benefits last for life and are protected against inflation because recipients get cost of living raises when prices go up. Because of this, Stanford experts have declared these benefits to be the ideal source of retirement income.

Since Social Security will always be there for you and you don't have to worry about it running out -- unlike your savings -- it makes sense to try to get the largest benefit possible.

Here are 13 ways you can try to do that by maximizing the monthly Social Security checks you receive.

Social Security determines a standard benefit for you by calculating average wages and applying a progressive formula. But you receive this standard benefit only if you retire at a specific age, called your full retirement age or FRA.

If you start receiving Social Security retirement income even a month prior to FRA, you will see a cut in your monthly Social Security benefit. And while you can claim benefits as early as 62, starting them this early could lead to a cut of as much as 30% in the monthly checks you receive.

FRA is between the ages of 65 and 67 depending on your year of birth. You can find out when your FRA is and what happens if you claim benefits before it in this guide to how filing early affects Social Security benefits. The bottom line: you will cut your monthly income if you don't wait -- so know when your FRA is before you start your benefits.

You get your standard benefit if you claim it at full retirement age. But if you want the highest possible monthly income, you'll need to wait even longer.

That's because you can earn delayed retirement credits that increase monthly Social Security checks if you wait to start your benefits until after FRA. You'll see a small increase in the size of your check each month, which adds up to an 8% annual increase for each year you wait.

You can only earn delayed retirement credits and raise your benefit up until age 70, though, so there's no benefit in waiting longer than this milestone birthday to start getting income from Social Security.

ALSO READ: How Much Does Waiting to Claim Raise My Social Security Benefits?

When Social Security determines how much you'll receive in monthly benefits, they review your entire earnings history and adjust your earnings each year to account for inflation.

The SSA then takes your inflation-adjusted wage in the 35 years when you had the most earnings and uses this to figure out what your average monthly earnings were during your career.

When you work for less than 35 years, the SSA doesn't just take the average of the number of years you worked. Instead, they still take 35 years of earnings into account -- but some of those years you'll have $0 earnings.

Obviously, adding in a bunch of years of $0 wages is going to reduce your average wage -- and your benefits along with it. So be sure to work for at least 35 years if you hope to maximize your monthly benefits.

For many people, wages go up over the course of their career. If this happens to you, the wages you're earning as you near retirement could be much higher than your earnings in early years -- even after adjusting past wages to account for inflation.

If you're earning a hefty salary late in life, it may make sense for you to work a little longer in your later years. Then, when the SSA figures out your average wage in the 35 years you earned the most, some years when you have a big salary will replace years when your income was lower.

When you replace a low number with a high one, naturally this brings the average up -- resulting in an increase in the benefits you receive.

The Social Security Administration receives reports of your earnings each year and all of this data is maintained to develop your earnings record.

You want to make sure that your earnings are being reported properly so you get credit for all the income you earn. To do this, sign into your Social Security account and check your earnings history.

If you notice a problem, you can get it corrected by contacting the Social Security Administration and providing proof your earnings are higher than reported.

There's one caveat though. You're only taxed on income up to a certain threshold, called the Social Security wage base. If you earn money above this threshold -- which can change annually -- you won't pay Social Security tax on it and it won't count towards the wages used to determine your Social Security benefit.

ALSO READ: How the Wage Base Limit Affects Your Social Security Benefits

The higher your monthly income when you're working, the higher your average wage used to determine your Social Security benefits.

So to maximize your retirement checks, you need to maximize your income during your career. You can do this by negotiating your salary when you get hired for a new job and by making sure to negotiate periodic raises.

Picking up some extra income from working a side gig or doing overtime can also increase your wages and result in larger Social Security checks during your golden years.

When you're married, decisions your spouse makes about claiming Social Security can affect you.

If you haven't worked very much or your spouse had a much higher income, you could claim spousal benefits and your retirement income would be based on your spouse's work history -- not on your own work record. But you can't start getting these benefits until your spouse has claimed his or her own retirement checks.

When one spouse dies, the other spouse can also receive survivor's benefits. These survivor's benefits can be affected by when your spouse claims his or her benefits, as early claiming could reduce the amount received.

Take all these factors into account and work with your spouse to determine when it makes sense for you each to take benefits.

This could mean the higher earner waits to claim as long as possible to maximize his retirement checks and survivor benefits, or if could mean the primary wage earner claiming early to open the door for spousal benefits to be paid ASAP.

If you get a divorce, you can still claim spousal benefits on your ex's work history -- provided you were married for at least 10 years.

If your spousal benefits would be higher than your own benefits, it may be worth delaying your divorce a little bit to become eligible for them.

Of course, you don't want to stay in an unhappy marriage for a decade just to get more retirement income. But if you've been married nine years already and can wait a little bit longer to finalize the divorce, you could potentially increase your Social Security benefits by thousands.

Remarrying could mean that you are no longer eligible to claim spousal or survivor's benefits on your ex's work history. You could, however, claim benefits based on your new spouse's work record.

If your ex earned a lot more than your current spouse, think about the financial impact before you tie the knot. You may decide a formal marriage doesn't make a lot of sense if you would lose thousands in Social Security income.

If you plan to claim spousal benefits on your new spouse's work record, also remember your spouse would need to first claim their own benefits.

But if you've been divorced at least two years, you could get spousal benefits regardless of what your ex is doing. So if you plan to claim benefits ASAP but want your current partner to keep working longer, it may make sense to put off remarriage. You could claim your spousal benefits on your ex's work history and your current partner could keep on working.

If you haven't yet reached full retirement age, working could result in your Social Security benefits being reduced. In fact, you could lose as much as $1 for every $2 earned above a certain amount of allowable income.

You'll eventually get this money back because you'll receive credit for the benefits you didn't earn. Social Security will recalculate your monthly benefits once you hit full retirement age. But it will take years for you to recoup the money you didn't receive due to working.

Working can have other benefits, including allowing you to boost your savings and reducing the amount of money you need to withdraw from investment accounts. But if you plan to work, be sure you first understand how your Social Security checks will be affected.

ALSO READ: Your Guide to Working While on Social Security

There are 37 states that do not tax Social Security benefits. If you don't live in one of them, consider relocating as a retiree.

By avoiding state income tax on your Social Security benefits, more of this money will go into your pocket resulting in a de-facto benefits increase.

The IRS taxes Social Security benefits, but only if your income exceeds a certain threshold. For joint filers, your benefits start to be taxed once your income is $32,000 or higher and for single filers, taxes start once your income hits $25,000.

There's a caveat, though. "Income" for determining if benefits are taxed equals 1/2 of your Social Security benefits plus your taxable income and some tax-exempt interest income.

If you have income that's not taxed -- such as income from a Roth IRA -- this won't count towards determining if taxes are imposed on your Social Security checks.

So if you want to maximize the amount of your benefits you get to keep -- instead of giving it to the government -- consider investing in a Roth IRA that will allow tax-free withdrawals.

Many people feel forced to claim Social Security earlier than full retirement age because health issues prevent them from working.

But you don't have to claim retirement benefits if you can't continue your career due to a health issue. You may be eligible for Social Security Disability benefits, provided you have a covered disability.

If you claim Disability benefits, you can avoid the penalty for filing early -- thus making your Social Security checks larger. You can also qualify for a disability freeze, so years with low earnings due to your disability aren't factored in when determining monthly benefits.

Claiming Social Security Disability instead of retirement benefits could result in substantially higher income from the Social Security Administration, so be sure to explore this option if health issues are forcing early retirement.

ALSO READ: Social Security Disability: Everything You Need to Know.

Now you know the key ways to maximize your Social Security benefits. By maximizing your income, waiting to claim benefits, and understanding the rules for spousal benefits, you can get the largest possible monthly checks.

By maximizing your Social Security income, hopefully you'll have the cash you need to enjoy retirement more -- and to make sure your savings last as long as you do.

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