15 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Claiming Social Security

Retirees have to decide when to claim Social Security. This choice has far-reaching, long-term financial obligations, so it isn't a decision to be taken lightly.

Before you move forward with filing your claim for benefits, there are 15 questions you should make certain to ask yourself. Here's what they are.

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Before considering a claim for benefits, you need to find out how much money you'll actually get once your checks start coming in the mail.

The easiest way to get that answer is to sign into your online Social Security account. You'll see your estimated benefit at several different claiming ages so you can get a realistic idea of the income your retirement benefits will offer.

You can't depend solely on your Social Security retirement benefits to fund your lifestyle in your later years. These benefits are intended to replace only about 40% of what you were earning, and most people can't afford to take a 60% pay cut after leaving the workforce.

Find out how much other money you'll have from a pension and your savings, making sure you've chosen a safe withdrawal rate.

If you want to get your standard Social Security benefit, you need to retire at your full retirement age, or FRA. Unfortunately, millions of Americans don't know exactly when their FRA is.

It's between 66 and 2 months and 67. And the exact age when you can claim your standard benefit depends on your birth year. Make sure you know your FRA before you file for your checks.

ALSO READ: What Is Full Retirement Age and Why Does It Matter?

Many people don't claim benefits right at FRA.

You may decide to start your checks earlier than FRA, but you need to know doing so could result in smaller checks. See, claiming before FRA means getting hit with monthly early filing penalties that reduce benefits. The penalties add up to a 6.7% annual benefit cut for the first three years ahead of FRA and a 5% cut for prior years.

There's also a financial advantage to delaying until after FRA. You can earn monthly delayed retirement credits. Ultimately, these add up to raise your benefit 8% each year until age 70.

Make sure you understand what delayed retirement credits and early filing penalties do before you claim Social Security.

Any delay in starting your Social Security checks beyond age 62 would mean giving up some monthly income. You have to earn higher benefits for long enough to get back that money you passed up in order for a delayed Social Security claim to pay off for you.

The age when you break even depends how long you wait to start your checks, but it could be over a decade. Before you claim benefits, make sure you calculate how long you'd have to live so you can get a realistic perception of whether delay is likely to leave you better off.

The $17,166 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook
If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $17,166 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.

It's important to make a realistic assessment of your health status before you decide when to start Social Security checks.

See, if you don't outlive your projected life expectancy, delaying a benefits claim isn't likely to pay off for you in the end. If you're in poor health, you may also prefer to claim benefits sooner rather than later so you can still enjoy them.

Social Security benefits are based on average wages in your 35 highest-earning years. So it's important to ask yourself how long you've been on the job.

If you worked for less than 35 years, your benefit amount will be reduced because there will be $0 earning years included in your average wage.

If you earned a low salary in some of your 35 work years and are earning more money now, you could potentially increase your monthly benefits by putting in a few extra years in the workforce.

That's because the higher-earning years could push out some lower-earning ones in your average wage calculation. So be sure to ask yourself how your current salary compares to what you earned earlier in your career on an inflation-adjusted basis.

Sometimes, spouses won't qualify for Social Security benefits on their own or their benefits may be very low. This can happen if they didn't work enough or if their partners earned much more than they did.

In these situations, your husband or wife could get spousal benefits, but you have to claim yours first. Ask yourself if it makes sense to claim ASAP to unlock benefits for your spouse.

ALSO READ: 3 Ways Your Marital Status Can Affect Your Social Security Benefits

After the death of a husband or wife, the surviving spouse gets to keep the higher of the two benefits each partner was receiving. If you were the high earner and you claimed your benefits early, you'd be shrinking the survival benefits you leave for your loved one.

It's important to ask yourself how this could affect your widow(er) if you pass away first, and take this factor into account when making your Social Security claiming choice.

The $17,166 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook
If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $17,166 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.

If you start getting Social Security checks prior to full retirement age and you earn too much income from working, some of your benefits will be temporarily forfeited.

It may make little sense to claim your retirement checks only to lose most or all of the money due to your high paychecks. Once you've reached FRA, though, you can work as much as you want, so this is no longer an issue.

Some retirees with higher incomes owe taxes on Social Security benefits. Ask yourself if you'll end up being one of them. If so, you need to be aware that the amount of your retirement income you'll get to keep is reduced.

This doesn't become an issue until provisional income reaches $25,000 for single tax filers or $32,000 for married joint filers. Provisional income is all taxable income, some nontaxable income (such as municipal bond interest), and half your Social Security benefit.

In 13 states in the U.S., some retirees are taxed on Social Security benefits.

If you live in one of those locations, or are planning to retire in one, you need to know the tax rules and how they impact the amount of your money you get to keep.

ALSO READ: 13 States That Can Tax Your Social Security Benefits

For most retirees, Medicare premiums are taken out of Social Security checks. These premiums reduce the amount of your money you can use for other things.

You need to know what you'll pay for Medicare and how it affects the amount of retirement benefits you have left over to live on.

Finally, you need to ask yourself if claiming your benefits now is crucial to your financial stability.

If you have to claim to be able to afford to retire or to avoid draining your nest egg, then the answer to this question is the only one that matters.

But if you have the option to delay your benefits claim, you'll want to take all of these other factors into account when making your claiming choice.

The $17,166 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook
If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $17,166 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.

After you've answered these 15 questions, you can make a good choice about whether it's time to file for Social Security benefits. You can maximize the chances that you'll choose a smart claiming strategy giving you the income you need to enjoy your later years.

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