3 Seemingly Innocent Mistakes That Could Slash Your Social Security Benefits for Life
You'll probably end up relying on Social Security to pay the bills in retirement, at least to some degree. As such, it's important to get as much money out of it as possible. But these less obvious mistakes could actually leave you with a much lower monthly paycheck from Social Security -- for life.
Your Social Security benefits are based on your personal earnings history -- specifically, your wages earned during your 35 highest-paid years on the job. But if you don't work a full 35 years, you'll have a $0 factored in for each year you go without an income. Many people don't know about this 35-year formula, so it's easy to see how a lot of seniors might retire before putting in that many years on the job. But if you want a higher benefit, you may need to be prepared to extend your career.
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Source Fool.com