Social Security: 3 Smart Ways to Get More Benefits

Chances are, Social Security will play a huge role in your retirement income, so it's important to do what you can to get the highest monthly benefit possible. Here are a few smart moves that could result in a higher Social Security benefit for life.

Your Social Security benefits are calculated based on your wages during your 35 highest-paid years on the job. But if you don't have 35 years of work attached to your earnings history, you'll have a $0 factored in for each year you're missing wages on file. Too many $0s could really drag your benefit down, so rather than let that happen, pledge to extend your career to erase those $0s and replace them with actual wages.

Here's an example: Imagine you're looking to retire at 67, only at that point, you've only worked 33 years. Even if you take on a part-time job for two more years, you'll still replace two years of zero earnings with some amount of wages.

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Source Fool.com