Here's some bad news: The average monthly Social Security retirement benefit was recently just $1,669, or about $20,000 annually. The fact that this is an average means that plenty of people receive less -- and sometimes a lot less -- than that. On the other hand, those with an above-average earnings history will collect more than $1,669 -- and the maximum that people are receiving these days is $4,194, which amounts to about $50,000.

Here's what you need to do to end up with that maximum $4,194 monthly Social Security payout. There's a good chance you can't quite get there, but you may still be able to increase your ultimate benefits by a lot -- maybe even by 24% or more!

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Source Fool.com