The average Social Security check as of April 2024 was about $1,915 per month. That comes out to $22,980 annually. It's enough to cover a substantial portion of most seniors' living expenses, but it's tough to live on alone.
Fortunately, you don't have to settle for average checks if you understand how the government calculates your benefits. There's one trick that could boost your average benefits by 24% in three years, but it's not for everyone.
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A quick recap of how the government calculates Social Security benefits
Understanding how the government calculates Social Security benefits is essential to maximizing your checks. It begins with determining your primary insurance amount (PIA). To do this, the government puts your average monthly earnings, adjusted for inflation, over your 35 highest-earning years into the Social Security benefit formula.
Your PIA is the amount you qualify for at your full retirement age (FRA). This is between 66 and 67 for today's workers. But many choose not to claim then. In this case, the government runs an additional calculation that adjusts your benefit up or down, depending on your claiming age and your FRA.
When claiming under your FRA, you lose 5/9 of 1% per month for up to 36 months of early claiming. That's 6.67% for a whole year of early claiming. Those who apply more than 36 months under their FRA lose an additional 5/12 of 1% per month (5% per year) from their checks.
How to add an extra 24% to your Social Security checks
You can also grow your checks by delaying Social Security beyond your FRA. You'll earn 2/3 of 1% per month, or 8% per year, for delaying benefits until you qualify for your largest checks at 70. For workers with FRAs of 67, this allows you to grow your benefit by up to 24%. That would add $460 to your checks if you qualified for the average $1,915 monthly benefit at your FRA of 67.
But this comes with a trade-off. To claim your largest possible checks, you must forego benefits in your 60s. This isn't feasible for everyone. If you struggled to save for retirement throughout your career and you're not able to work now, you may have no choice but to apply for Social Security early to cover your expenses.
Even if you can afford to delay benefits, it's not always wise. This strategy may lead to larger monthly checks, but it could reduce your lifetime Social Security benefit if you don't live past your 70s. Those who believe they have short life expectancies often get the most overall by claiming Social Security for as many years as possible.
When you want to delay but can't
Putting off Social Security until 70 isn't realistic for a lot of workers, but that's OK. You can still leverage the knowledge above to grow your checks a little. We discussed how claiming under your FRA shrinks your checks. Put another way, delaying your Social Security claim increases your benefit at any age.
You'll get more per month by claiming at 63 than you would by claiming at 62. Even claiming one month later could add $8 to $13 to the average monthly Social Security check. Delaying for a little while beyond your originally planned claiming date might be a viable alternative to waiting until 70 for those who want to boost their checks a little. Think about your life expectancy and how long you feel you could afford to delay claiming to guide your decision about when to start Social Security.
