Choose your claiming age carefully and understand how this affects the size of your benefit. It's best to apply several months in advance of when you hope to claim. Gather your documents ahead of time ...

There are several important decisions to make about your Social Security benefits. You decide how many years you work and which jobs you work at. You also choose when you sign up. All these choices ...

For those approaching retirement, there are several steps to take before applying for Social Security benefits. Pre-retirees should be familiar with the benefit options available to them and ...

When you sign up determines the size of the check you qualify for, along with your income history from your working years. You can apply as early as age 62, but that's considered claiming early, and ...

You may think you've done all you can to maximize your Social Security benefits. You worked hard for decades. You increased your income over your career. Now you're staring at the application screen ...

Katharine Paljug is a financial writer and editor with over a decade of industry experience. Her writing has covered nearly every aspect of the financial world, from investing in forex to paying for ...

Every month you delay your Social Security application increases your benefit. Working and claiming Social Security while under your full retirement age (FRA) puts you at risk of losses from the ...

The overall award rate for Social Security disability benefits was at a near-record low of 31 percent in 2023.

You may already know that Social Security benefits tend to increase over time, thanks to annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). But if you've been receiving checks for a while or you know someone ...