Read time: 3 min
Learn what it is, how to qualify for benefits, and when you can start collecting them.
- Your benefit: Find out why it pays to wait to collect your benefit and get an estimate of how much it may be.
- What can increase and decrease your benefit: Your marital status, Medicare, pensions, and more can affect your benefit amount
- What's ahead: The future of Social Security and how to apply for benefits.
How do I plan for Social Security?
When to start collecting your Social Security benefit is a big decision. It affects how much money you’ll receive for the rest of your life and how you’ll live your retirement dream.
Making this decision can feel a little overwhelming, but we’re here to help. We’ll walk you through some of the things you need to know so you can make a decision that will work best for your situation.
Let’s get started.
First, what is Social Security?
Social Security is a federal government program that provides a guaranteed monthly income adjusted for inflation for as long as you live.
When creating your retirement plan, be sure to include your monthly Social Security benefit as an income source. It may not replace all your income when you stop working, so it isn’t intended to be your total retirement package.
How do you qualify for Social Security?
There are 4 ways you can qualify for Social Security: by accumulating a minimum number of credits based on your earnings history; as a spouse; as a surviving spouse or surviving ex-spouse; or as an ex-spouse.
When should you begin collecting benefits?
Thinking strategically about when to collect your Social Security retirement benefits is important. You can start collecting anytime between ages 62 and 70. But the longer you wait to claim benefits—up until age 70—the higher your monthly payments will be. If you think you can live comfortably off your savings while letting your benefits continue to increase, it could be advantageous to wait.
To make the best decision for your situation, you’ll need to know your full retirement age (FRA), which is the age at which you’ll be eligible to receive your primary insurance amount (full monthly benefit).
Note: Full retirement age, the age when your Social Security benefits aren’t decreased for retiring early, is based on your birth year. You can find your full retirement age on the Social Security Administration website. The primary insurance amount (PIA) is the monthly benefit that you’d receive if you claimed Social Security at your full retirement age. This amount is based on your highest 35 years of income, with earnings through age 60 indexed to reflect increases in U.S. workers’ average wage levels. You can find a more detailed look at the PIA formula on the Social Security Administration website.
Other important considerations
While determining when to collect your benefits, you’ll also want to take into account:
- Your marital status. Special rules apply to current, former, and widowed spouses claiming Social Security benefits. And strategies offer married couples; divorced or surviving spouses; and single workers the opportunity to maximize benefits throughout retirement and decrease longevity risk.
Note: Longevity risk—also called "outliving your assets" or "outliving your savings"—is the possibility that you will live longer than the funds in your retirement savings, pensions, annuities or other retirement income streams.*
- If you plan to work in retirement. If you collect Social Security benefits between ages 62 and your FRA and you earn too much from wages, Social Security may temporarily reduce your benefits. But they won’t be lost. Once you reach your FRA, any benefits that were withheld will be returned to you in the form of higher monthly payments.
Review the current Social Security earnings limits. To see how working for pay may impact your benefits, use Social Security's Retirement Earnings Test Calculator.
- Your investment income. If you think your savings can support you comfortably, or you’re still earning enough from working to meet your needs, you can delay claiming your benefits and allow them to increase. And unlike working for pay, money from savings or IRAs won’t directly reduce your benefits, though you’ll want to consider the potential for taxes being due (see below).
- Taxes: Your Social Security benefit amount is pre-tax. However, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits are included in the calculation of your federal adjusted gross income and may be subject to state income tax. Your retirement plan should account for this possible taxation, especially if you’ll be taking required minimum distributions from IRAs or if you’ll withdraw from an employer-sponsored plan during your retirement. We recommend you speak with your tax or financial advisor about your retirement plan.
How much money will you receive from Social Security?
The amount will vary depending on the year you were born, your lifetime earnings, and the age you begin receiving payments.
The easiest way to increase your monthly payment is to delay collecting. But there are other ways you may be able to increase your benefits. And while you’re strategizing ways to increase them, keep in mind there are things that can decrease your benefits as well.
Your Social Security benefits may increase if you’re … |
Your Social Security benefits could decrease because of … |
|---|---|
Married. You and your spouse should coordinate your claims to maximize the benefits. Whether you claim at the same time or use a split strategy to claim at different ages, it usually makes sense for the higher earner to wait longer to collect. Over time, the higher earner’s increases will be worth more. |
Taxes. You can ask the government to withhold taxes from your benefit payment, although you're not required to do so. If you'll owe taxes, withholding has 2 advantages: You won't have to pay a lump sum at tax time, and you'll avoid a potential penalty for underpaying your taxes. |
Divorced and haven’t remarried. You may be eligible to claim benefits on your ex-spouse’s earnings record if you were married at least 10 years. |
Medicare deductions. The premiums from Medicare Part B will be deducted from your Social Security payments. |
A surviving spouse. You can claim survivor benefits as early as age 60 if your spouse’s earnings qualified them for Social Security. You also have the option to switch to your own benefits when you reach age 62 or older. |
Certain pensions. If you received a pension from a government entity or another organization that didn't withhold Social Security taxes, your benefits can be reduced. |
Full retirement age but not yet age 70. You can suspend your benefit if it’s been over a year since you filed. Your benefit amount will increase every year until you reach age 70 or start to collect again. |
Earnings if you keep working. Depending on your age, if you’re working and also collecting Social Security, your benefits can be decreased if you earn over the set limits. |
Social Security’s long-term prospects
Many people believe that Social Security will fail. Are they right?
Each year, independent experts examine the program’s finances. In their latest audit, they concluded Social Security has enough money to pay all benefits until the year 2035.2 But that doesn’t mean the program would fail. It could still pay approximately 76% of its promised benefits with just the money it collects in payroll taxes.
That would be a hardship for many retirees. But there is no expectation that Social Security payments will stop entirely. And in the meantime, politicians may find a way to fund it fully.
If you’d like more control over your future retirement income, consider saving more in your employer’s retirement plan or an IRA.
How to apply for Social Security
You can file online, over the phone, or in person at a local Social Security Administration office. You may need to produce these documents:
- Your Social Security card.
- An original birth certificate or other proof of your birth.
- A copy of your W-2 form or self-employment tax return for the previous year.
- Your marriage certificate.
- If you weren't born in the United States, proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful alien status.
1Source: ssa.gov, February 2025.
2Source: Stephen C. Goss. The Future Financial Status of the Social Security Program. Social Security Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, May 2024.
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