You don't want to make mistakes today that will hurt your retirement down the road. One path to financial success is putting yourself in position to get the largest possible Social Security checks in retirement. Not everyone can make a change today that will affect future retirement benefits, but it's important to prepare the right way so that you can make the proper adjustments when the time comes.

Social Security benefits are calculated based on something called average indexed monthly earnings (AIME). This is basically the average monthly income that you earned over your 35 most lucrative years paying into the Social Security system, adjusted for changes in the standard of living over that time frame.

In general, most people can't simply choose to make more money. However, understanding the method used for calculating benefits could help to guide important employment decisions for some people who are concerned about their monthly Social Security checks.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com