If I Could Tell All Retirees 1 Thing About Social Security, I'd Say to Do This Before You Claim Benefits

There's a lot of planning that needs to go into retirement. You have to figure out where you'll live, what you'll do with your time, and how you'll manage your expenses.

Social Security will likely play a big role with regard to the latter. Ideally, you'll have some savings on top of Social Security. But those monthly benefit may constitute a large chunk of your retirement income.

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For this reason, it's important to file at the right time. And it's also important to know what numbers you're working with before signing up for benefits.

Arm yourself with information

The amount of money Social Security pays you each month will hinge on your personal income history, coupled with your filing age. You're allowed to sign up for benefits as early as age 62. But for each month you file for Social Security before reaching full retirement age, your benefits are subject to a reduction. Full retirement age is 66, 67, or somewhere in the middle, depending on your year of birth.

There's also the option to delay your Social Security claim past full retirement age. For each year you do, up until age 70, your benefits get an 8% boost.

There are clear pros and cons to filing at different ages. The upside of signing up at 62, for example, is getting your money sooner. The downside is locking yourself into a lower monthly benefit for life.

Filing at age 70 puts you in the opposite boat. You get to enjoy a higher monthly paycheck for life, but you need to wait longer to start getting that money.

Before you make your decision, though, you should have a complete sense of your financial picture. And that means you ought to do two things:

• Get an estimate of your monthly Social Security benefit
• Do an assessment of your savings to see how much monthly income you can expect from your 401(k) or IRA

To get an estimate of your monthly Social Security paycheck, create an account on the Social Security Administration's website and access your most recent earnings statement. To see how much monthly income your savings will provide, look at your account balance and decide what withdrawal rate works for you. And then apply that rate to the number you see on screen.

Let's say you realize you're eligible for a $2,000 monthly benefit from Social Security at full retirement age. Filing at age 62 will reduce that benefit to about $1,400, while delaying until 70 gives you close to $2,500 instead.

Let's also say you have $600,000 in retirement savings and plan to use the 4% rule to manage your nest egg. That gives you roughly $2,000 a month from your savings.

At that point, you can look at your expected expenses and see how much you'll need from Social Security to cover them. If you think you'll be able to live comfortably on $4,000 a month, you may not have to delay your Social Security claim beyond full retirement age. But you probably shouldn't file early. And if you think you'll do just fine on $3,000 a month, then signing up for Social Security early may be feasible.

Don't rush into filing for benefits

Your Social Security filing decision has the potential to impact your finances throughout retirement. So it's important to feel confident in your decision.

To do so, you need the right information, including an estimate of your monthly benefit as well as an estimated monthly payday from your nest egg. Once you see those numbers, you should be in a better position to make a savvy choice.

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