Retirement

How You Can Grow Your Social Security Benefits Beyond Retirement Age

November 30, 2017 • By

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Last Updated: November 3, 2023

man and woman outside on laptop For more and more Americans, reaching retirement age no longer means the end of an active working life. Many people are choosing to work past the age of 65, according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If you’re willing and able, maintaining gainful employment later in life could go a long way toward ensuring a secure future for you and your family. Besides providing you with additional income to pay your bills, extending your employment or working for yourself could boost your lifetime Social Security benefits.

Here’s how:

Whether you’re still working or not, waiting to claim your Social Security retirement benefits could grow them significantly. Through delayed retirement credits, your monthly benefit amount increases for each year you wait between your full retirement age and 70. Full retirement age is between 65 and 67, depending on when you were born. To learn more about delayed retirement credits, please visit our Retirement Benefits page.

You get credits on your earnings record for each year of additional work income. Once you start receiving retirement benefits, we’ll automatically review your earnings record each year to determine if you’re entitled to an adjustment. When we calculate your retirement benefit amount, we use your best 35 years of earnings. We’ll increase your benefit amount if your new year of earnings is higher than one of the years we used to calculate your initial benefit amount. To see how we calculate your benefits, see our publication, Your Retirement Benefit: How It’s Figured.

An increased benefit amount for yourself could mean more support for your family, too, through Social Security spousal benefits, child benefits, and survivor benefits.

We also encourage you to set up your own online my Social Security account so you can verify your lifetime earnings record, check the status of an application for benefits, and manage them after you’re receiving them. You can create your personal my Social Security account today.

Social Security is committed to helping you prepare for a secure today and tomorrow for you, your family, and future family. You can access all of our retirement resources on our Retirement Benefits page.

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About the Author

Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications

Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications

Comments

  1. N. B.

    Why is there such a delay in sending information to the beneficiary/actuary regarding past years benefits? I have had to individually request, yet I know that such info is immediately sent to the IRS.

  2. Sandra

    It took me three application, multiple calls, and two visits to the social security office to sign up for B. It would be helpful for the different units to have an updated record of my application, and be able to report on the status of my application?

  3. Sandra

    How can I check if the right amount was determined for my social security amount?

    • Ray F.

      Hi Sandra, you can call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213 for assistance. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Generally, you will have a shorter wait time if you call later during the day. Thanks!

  4. Sandra

    If one finds a particular social security office difficult to deal with, why can’t one go to another?

    • Ray F.

      Hi Sandra, you can visit any Social Security office in your area. Keep in mind that many of our services are conveniently available, anytime, at our website. Thanks!

  5. S T.

    I’d like to know how delaying retirement benefits might apply to those who have been receiving disability benefits. When SSDI would normally switch to retirement benefits at full retirement age, is it possible to ask for suspension to age 70 and get a higher monthly amount from age 70 on?

    • S T.

      Why is this question never answered? I have asked it over the years, with not one answer, ever.

  6. Mary J.

    Is there a certain time frame you must sign up for SS or get a penalty? I turned 62 in Oct. but do not plan to draw until full retirement age 66 and 2 months I believe. So do I need to do Anything about signing up until then. Don’t want to be penalized.

    • S T.

      There is no penalty. In fact, the opposite: there is a benefit to delaying retirement benefits. Read the information about delaying to age 70!

  7. Daniel P.

    I have a friend who is 76 and working still. He says he is unfamiliar with Social security and asked me some questions about getting benefits. I know the benefit he gets would have quit increasing (just due to his age) at 70, but is his benefit increasing due to his working and not taking the benefit? Once he got his 10 years of coverage he probably should have taken the benefit, am I wrong?

    • Ray F.

      Thank you for helping out, Daniel. You’re right, the benefit increase no longer applies when you reach age 70, even if you continue to delay taking benefits. Generally, anyone born in 1929 or later needs at least 10 years of work or 40 credits, to be eligible for retirement benefits.
      To speak to one of our agents and to discuss his options, your friend can call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
      We hope this information helps!

  8. Rita

    Was there an increase in medicare for 2018? I don’t remember being notified of an increase in the cost of medicare when the 2% cost of living increase was announced for social security benefits.

    • S T.

      The increase was earlier, not this year, but the increase in benefits allows for paying the full price. Many did not pay the full price for Part B because it would have reduced the monthly benefit. Now, with the 2% increase, most of that increase goes toward paying the full price of $134 a month for Medicare Part B.

  9. Barbara Z.

    What a joke. We get a $28.00 increase in benefits and you raise the cost of our insurance by $25.00 and never said a word about this increase. I’m 77 and have a hard time paying rent, feeding myself & paying for supplemental insurance. Surely, we can do better than this. I know folks who are in a lot worse shape than I am.
    There has to be more that we can do to insure retirees living solely on SS can exist without having to depend on family, food banks etc.

  10. MARGARET M.

    If you took early retirement benefits, and spousal benefits at 62, (your spouse was 65) and then you get divorced, after a 29 year marriage you keep your benefits until you remarry. If you REMARRY at age 70…and your new husband collected is benefits at age 62, do you as the new spouse collect under his 62 yr. old retirement benefit, or are you entitled to 50% of what would have been his full retirement benefit, because you are 70 when you apply for his benefits as you new spouse?

    • Ray F.

      Thank you for contacting us, Margaret!
      First a couple of reminders: Generally, you must be married for one year before you can get spouse’s benefits on your (new) husband’s record. Next, when a person begins to receive benefits at age 62 or prior to their full retirement age, their benefits are reduced. These reduction factors are permanently applied to all of the benefits the person may qualify for.
      Also keep in mind, that if you receive benefits from Social Security, you have a legal obligation to report changes, which could affect your eligibility to receive Social Security benefits. If you get married or divorced, your Social Security benefits may be affected, depending on the kind of benefits you receive. You may be due additional payments, or you may be overpaid and have to pay us back because you didn’t report the change in a timely manner.
      Please call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213 for further assistance. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. We hope this information helps!

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