Planning for your retirement is perhaps one of the trickier aspects to navigate during your career, as it essentially determines how you will spend your sunset years. For this reason, it is worth having a complete grasp of how the Social Security program works so you can maximize your Social Security benefits in a way that best suits your lifestyle.
While Social Security is a fixed income, there are ways to ensure you receive a higher-than-average check; however, this will of course depend primarily on how much you earn during your working years. This is because of how the program works: you pay a percentage of your earnings into Social Security payroll taxes, your employer matches this, and later, once you retire, you receive these payments back in the form of your monthly benefit income.
As such, here are seven things to consider in order to maximize your benefits.
Tips to maximize your Social Security benefit checks
1. Higher salary = higher contribution to Social Security payroll tax
Social Security is an insurance program, meaning what you put in is what you get out at a later stage. Currently, 12.4% of a worker’s earnings are put toward Social Security payroll taxes; however, the worker contributes 6.2% and the employer covers the remaining 6.2%. In essence, the higher your earnings, the higher your benefits will be when you claim them during retirement.
There is, however, a caveat to this, and that is the wage base limit. This is the maximum taxable income, and for 2025 the wage cap is $176,100. This means that any income earned above this threshold will not be considered when you are paying into Social Security payroll taxes. It is also worth noting that the wage cap is expected to increase in 2026.
2. Have a career of at least 35 years
When the SSA calculates your benefits, it takes into account 35 of your highest-earning years. This means that if, for instance, you only worked for 30 years before retiring, there will be 5 years where your total earnings are $0. This will result in a lower benefit amount.
3. Earn delayed retirement credits
Benefits can be claimed from age 62; however, this is considered claiming early because the Full Retirement Age (FRA) is currently 66 years and 10 months for those born in 1959. As such, you will qualify for your full benefits once you reach your FRA. Additionally, if you delay claiming benefits until age 70, you will earn delayed retirement credits. As a result, when you eventually claim at age 70, you could receive an additional 8% increase on top of your full benefit amount.
4. Working while claiming benefits
If you have not reached your FRA and continue to work while claiming benefits, you may be subject to the retirement earnings test, which could result in a deduction to your benefits if you earn above certain thresholds. This deduction is temporary, and your benefits will be recalculated once you reach your FRA, however.
In 2025, if you will not reach FRA for the full year, you will lose $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above $23,400. If you will reach FRA in the year, you will lose $1 in benefits for every $3 earned above $62,160.
5. Spousal or survivor benefits
If your spouse earned more than you, you may qualify for a bigger payout by claiming based on your spouse’s work record. You can, at most, claim 50% of their primary benefit; however, you will not be able to collect delayed retirement credits.
6. Redo your benefit calculation
Within the first 12 months of claiming, you have the option to withdraw and re-apply later. You will, however, be required to repay the benefits you received in those 12 months.
Additionally, if you have reached FRA but are still younger than 70, you have the option to suspend your benefits temporarily so as to earn delayed retirement credits.
7. Save in a Roth account
Since Social Security does not consider Roth withdrawals as income, having one means you will get to keep a larger portion of your Social Security benefit.