7 Retirement Benefits You May Be Missing Out On

As you plan for and live through your retirement, it’s important to consider every benefit you are eligible for. After all, with work behind you, income is harder to come by. Any help you can get to cover your costs will enable you to support that much more comfortable of a lifestyle in your golden years.

With that in mind, here are seven retirement benefits you may be missing out on. If you can claim and make use of them, the financial freedom they provide could mean a great deal for your ability to live the retirement lifestyle you’d like.

5 Stocks Under $49
Presented by Motley Fool Stock Advisor
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!" It's true, but we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Click here to learn how you can grab a copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

If you’ve worked at least 40 quarters of covered employment, you are eligible for Social Security benefits. They don’t come automatically, though. You need to file a claim in order to receive any payments that you’ve earned.

A key reason Social Security makes you file is because your monthly payment amount is tied to the age at which you start claiming benefits. Because you have that choice, there isn’t an easy way to make Social Security payments automatically start for people who become eligible to receive them.

Medicare Part A and B enrollment is only automatic if you’re already signed up to receive Social Security retirement benefits. If you are, then you’ll automatically enroll in Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B once you turn 65.

If you’re not already receiving Social Security, then you need to sign up for Medicare in order to take advantage of that benefit if it makes sense for you to do so. Note that unless you have qualifying other coverage, you generally need to sign up within the seven-month window centered around the month you turn 65 in order to avoid a late-enrollment penalty.

While Medicare Part A and B enrollment may be automatic for those already receiving Social Security, other benefits associated with Medicare are not. Those include Medicare supplemental insurance, Medicare Advantage (Part C), and/or prescription coverage (Part D).

For the most part, those programs act as insurance to offer you the chance to trade a known cost (the monthly premium) for potential help (the covered services) should you need them. If you’re going to sign up for them, you generally need to do so when you first become eligible -- or lose other qualifying coverage -- in order to avoid a late-enrollment penalty.

ALSO READ: 4 Signs You Need a New Medicare Advantage Plan

Many communities offer property tax breaks to seniors -- either all seniors or those whose incomes fall below a certain threshold. These breaks are often called homestead exemptions, and to qualify for them, you typically need to apply with whatever government agency administers your property taxes.

There’s paperwork and an application involved, largely to improve the chances that only those who are truly qualified receive the benefits of the exemption.

If you've changed jobs at any point in your career, you may have a pension or other defined benefit plan available to you from one or more of your former employers. Rules for such plans generally reward longevity, so it may not be a huge amount, but every little bit counts.

It’s worth a phone call to any former employers or their successor companies to get information on any pension you may have available to you. If your former employer has gone out of business or declared bankruptcy, you might want to check with the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation to see if they are managing a pension in your name.

5 Stocks Under $49
Presented by Motley Fool Stock Advisor
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Amazon or Netflix when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!" It's true, but we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $49 a share! Click here to learn how you can grab a copy of “5 Growth Stocks Under $49” for FREE for a limited time only.

There are plenty of places that offer discounts for senior citizens. They include restaurants, retailers, airlines, hotels, and even the National Park Service. Some of these deals are available at all times, but with others you need to be able to be flexible with your scheduling in order to take advantage. Be sure to ask if you qualify, and be willing to show your ID to take advantage of your deals.

Recognize that those places that require you to be flexible with your scheduling are doing so because they are trying to balance demand for their services across the day or week. They realize that some money coming in during off-peak hours beats no money coming in. As a result, they’re willing to offer deal pricing to attract customers into what would otherwise be low-traffic times.

ALSO READ: Senior Discounts: Save Thousands of Dollars Starting at Age 50

The primary purpose of a health savings account (HSA) is to help people with high-deductible insurance plans cover the cost of healthcare. In addition to serving that role, an HSA can be useful when it comes to general retirement planning as well.

If you have an HSA, money you have invested in it acts similar to a traditional IRA once you reach age 65. You can still take money from your HSA to cover your medical costs completely tax and penalty free. For other expenses, money you take out once you reach age 65 is subject to income taxes, but no penalties, which is similar to how traditional IRA withdrawals are handled at that age.

Each of these benefits require some action from you in order to take advantage of it. In some cases, they also require preplanning to have the right tools in place before you retire so that they’re there when you need them.

The sooner you get started planning to take advantage of any or all of these seven benefits, the better your odds are of being able to put them to use for you. So get started now, and give yourself your best chance of having a retirement plan that comfortably covers your core costs.

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.