Choose your claiming age carefully and understand how this affects the size of your benefit. It's best to apply several months in advance of when you hope to claim. Gather your documents ahead of time so missing information doesn't derail your application.

You may think you've done all you can to maximize your Social Security benefits. You worked hard for decades. You increased your income over your career. Now you're staring at the application screen and wondering if it's finally time to start receiving ...

You're allowed to claim Social Security as early as 62, but doing it so early reduces your checks by 5/9 of 1% per month for up to 36 months and then 5/12 of 1% per month thereafter. If your FRA is 67, you shrink your benefit by 30% when you claim right away at 62.

The decision to delay Social Security benefits until age 70 is often hailed as the gold standard of retirement planning. For each full year you delay receiving Social Security benefits beyond full retirement age,

Test your basic knowledge of filing for Social Security benefits in our 10 question quick quiz.

The maximum taxable earnings are the amounts of income subject to Social Security payroll taxes in a given year. In 2025, it's $176,100. This will rise to $184,500 in 2026. This is often the step that bars people from taking home the max benefit. The average person simply doesn't make enough to do this.