Social Security: 5 Smart Ways to Get More Benefits

Social Security is a guaranteed source of income in retirement, but how much you'll get from the program is up in the air. You might think that Social Security is a future concern, but the decisions you're making right now, no matter your age, can affect the size of your benefit checks, and, by extension, how comfortable your retirement is. If you want the largest checks possible, here are five things you need to do.

Your Social Security benefit is based upon your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME). This is your average monthly income over your 35 highest-earning years, with adjustments for inflation. Those who haven't worked at least 35 years have zeros factored into their calculation, which brings down their AIME considerably. Those who have worked less than 10 years aren't eligible for Social Security based on their own work record at all.

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Source Fool.com