Timing Social Security to Your Benefit

A common strategy that is being used to increase the size of monthly Social Security payments later in life is referred to as “file and suspend”.  The strategy works in the following way:  When you reach your full retirement age, you file for your benefit and immediately suspend it.  You then earn “delayed retirement credits” which increase your payments by 8% for each full year that you wait to start receiving benefits, up to age 70.  To learn more about the “file and suspend” strategy, please visit the following Social Security Administration site, http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/suspend.htm.