5 Social Security Secrets for Even Bigger Checks

The average Social Security benefit for a retiree works out to around $1,543 per month . It's not a universal benefit, though. Your Social Security benefit is customized based largely on your personal earnings history and the age you are when you claim benefits. That formulaic approach helps improve the program's fairness by tying what you get out of the program at least somewhat to what you out into it in the form of taxes.

It also means you have some level of influence over how large your personal Social Security check gets. These five Social Security secrets could help you get even bigger checks than you otherwise would have. Before using them, it's important to recognize that they all involve trade-offs between things like time, money, and effort. If you decide that it's not worth it to do what it takes to get that bigger Social Security check, that's your choice. Just be sure you have another source of income to cover your costs.

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Source Fool.com