How can you get several hundred dollars more a month in Social Security payments?
Social Security payments can help finance your retirement if you need to supplement your savings. Here are some ways you could receive a bigger check.
Checks from Social Security can help you with life after retirement, especially if your savings are not enough to live on. According to personal finance website GOBankingRates, baby boomers have not saved enough for a comfortable retirement.
According to the site, the median retirement savings of this age group is $202,000, and 43% of 55 to 65-year-olds had no retirement savings at all in 2022.
Given that your savings might not be enough to live on, it would be best to maximize your social security benefits.
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How can you get several hundred dollars more a month in Social Security payments?
Here are some ways you can ensure you receive a more substantial monthly check when you head into retirement.
Get bigger payments later if you change your mind about retiring
The benefit you receive when you retire is typically fixed for life at the time you start claiming it, not including cost-of-living adjustments.
However, if you change your mind, you can request a do-over and reset the retirement benefit to a higher amount once you do decide to retire in the future.
You must make the decision to go back to work within 12 months of filing for retirement, as you only have a year to withdraw your application. You will need to pay back what you’ve received, but you’ll receive bigger checks by the time you truly decide to retire.
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Try to work at least 35 years
Although you are eligible to receive benefits after working for at least 10 years, the amount you receive will be computed by averaging your salary for the 35 years where you earned the most. If you paid Social Security taxes for less than this period, zeros will be inputted to arrive at the average, considerably cutting your monthly retirement check.
To make sure you get a bigger amount, work for more than 35 years, especially since you are likely to be earning a bigger salary as you get older.
Withdraw from your Roth IRA account instead of your 401(k)
If you take out money from your traditional 401(k) from your living expenses, you would have to pay federal taxes as it is considered ordinary income. However, if you get your money from a Roth IRA instead, you would not need to pay taxes as they are not considered part of your provisional income, which is where federal taxes are imposed.