One of the trickiest decisions you might have to make in the course of gearing up for retirement is deciding when to claim Social Security. You can file for benefits as early as age 62. But you're not entitled to your full monthly benefit based on your personal earnings history until your full retirement age (FRA) arrives. And that age is 66, 67, or somewhere in the middle, depending on the year you were born.

But you don't have to sign up for benefits once you reach FRA. Instead, you can hold off on filing and rack up delayed retirement credits that boost your benefits by 8% a year.

Once you turn 70, those credits won't continue to accumulate, so 70 is generally considered the latest age to file for Social Security. And if you do hold out until age 70, you might grow your benefits in a very meaningful and helpful way.

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Source Fool.com