Social Security can go a long way, sometimes making the difference between a comfortable retirement and struggling to make ends meet. Roughly 90% of current retirees depend on their benefits to some degree, according to a 2023 survey from Gallup, so it's wise to have a strategy to maximize them.
Before you retire, it's wise to make sure you know how much to expect from your benefits, as well as how much you can realistically rely on them to cover your expenses. From there, it will be easier to determine whether your savings are on track.
Fortunately, there's a simple way to check your future benefit amount. Here's how to see your estimate, how that benefit stacks up to that of the average retiree, as well as a few tricks to boost your monthly payments.
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How to check your Social Security benefit
The simplest way to check your future benefit is to examine your statements. Some people may receive paper statements in the mail from the Social Security Administration, but if you don't, you can check them online by creating a mySocialSecurity account.
These statements will include an estimate of your future benefit based on your real earnings. Keep in mind that this is the amount you'll collect at your full retirement age (FRA) -- which is age 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later.
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If you file before or after your FRA, it will affect your benefit amount. Also, if you still have many more years left of your career before you plan to begin taking Social Security, your estimated benefit could change between now and retirement.
How does your benefit stack up to the average?
Several factors will influence the amount you receive in benefits, including the length of your career, your earnings history, and the age you begin claiming. Your benefit amount, then, may vary significantly compared to other retirees.
While it's more important to ensure you're preparing for your unique retirement, it can still be helpful to see how your benefit amount compares to what the average retiree receives. According to the Social Security Administration's most recent data released in December 2023, here's what the average retired worker receives in benefits at various ages:
| Age | Monthly Retirement Benefit |
|---|---|
| 62 | $1,298 |
| 63 | $1,339 |
| 64 | $1,460 |
| 65 | $1,563 |
| 66 | $1,740 |
| 67 | $1,884 |
| 68 | $1,948 |
| 69 | $1,945 |
| 70 | $2,038 |
Data source: Social Security Administration.
Knowing your estimated benefit can make it easier to prepare for retirement, as you'll know approximately how much you can depend on Social Security versus other sources of income. The sooner you check your benefit, then, the more time you have to plan.
Ways to increase your benefit amount
If you find that you're on track to receive less than you expected from Social Security, the good news is that there are a few factors within your control to increase your payments.
In 2024, the maximum you can receive in benefits is a whopping $4,873 per month. While it's not necessarily easy to achieve the max payments, these three steps can get you as close as possible:
- Delay claiming: You can file as early as age 62, but for every month you wait (up to age 70), the more you'll collect each month. This is perhaps the most straightforward way to dramatically increase your payments, and the average retiree collects around $740 more per month at age 70 than at 62.
- Work for at least 35 years: The Social Security Administration calculates your benefit by taking an average of your earnings over the 35 highest-earning years of your career. That figure is then run through a complex formula and adjusted for inflation, and the result is the amount you'll collect at your FRA. If you've worked for fewer than 35 years by the time you file, you'll have zeros added to your average -- which will reduce your benefit amount.
- Increase your income: The maximum taxable earnings limit, or wage cap, is the highest income subject to Social Security taxes. The closer you can get to this limit, the higher your benefit will be. While it changes from year to year to account for inflation, it's $168,600 per year in 2024.
You don't necessarily need to do all three of these things to increase your benefit, and small steps can go a long way.
For example, maybe you can't delay claiming until age 70, but you can wait until 65 or 67 to claim. Or perhaps you can't reach the $168,600 annual wage cap, but you can increase your income by a couple thousand dollars per year. Either of those moves alone can still boost your benefit, potentially by hundreds of dollars per month.
Social Security can make or break retirement for many older adults, so the more you can prepare heading into your senior years, the better. By checking your estimated benefit and keeping realistic expectations about how far those checks will go, you can set yourself up for a more comfortable retirement.
