These 5 Tips Will Maximize Your Social Security Payments

#1 Claim your benefits as late as possible

You can claim your Social Security retirement benefits as soon as you are 62 years old. And this is the most popular age for people to apply for Social Security. However, that people don’t realize is that 62 is not the Full Retirement Age (FRA). The Full Retirement Age is based on your date of birth. So, if you were born in 1960, then your full retirement age would be 67. And you only get 100% of your Social Security benefits at your FRA.

And here’s another thing that most people don’t understand. If you wait even longer than your FRA, you stand to gain even more. If you have crossed your FRA and you still haven’t applied for Social Security, more gets added to your benefit amount till you reach the age of 70. These are called Delayed Retirement Credits.