So, despite its funding issues, the Social Security program isn't going anywhere, and that means you need to know how best to collect your benefits.
Collecting your benefits start the month you apply if you're already older than 62 years old.
2. If you aren't now collecting and wait until 70 to collect your retirement benefit, your retirement benefit starting at 70 can be as much as 76percentt higher than your age-62 retirement benefit, adjusted for inflation.
7. If your primary insurance amount (your retirement benefit available if you wait until full retirement) is less than half that of your spouse and you take your own retirement benefit early, but are able to wait until full retirement age to collect your spousal benefit, your total check, for the rest of your life, will be less than one half of your spouse's primary insurance amount.
But if you are married or divorced, waiting to collect your retirement benefit may be the wrong move.
If you wait to collect your retirement benefit after you reach your full retirement age, but before you hit age 70, you have to wait until the next January to see your full delayed retirement credit show up in your monthly check.
Because benefits go up by about 8percentt a year between the ages of 66 and 70, waiting to collect your own benefit could mean a significantly higher payout down the road.
The more documentation you have about the bullying you experienced on the job, the more likely you'll be to collect your unemployment benefits.
Expect to collect your unemployment benefits from 16 to 52 weeks.
This means that if you are older than your ex and your ex was the higher earner, you'll be able to collect your reduced retirement benefit early without being forced to take your spousal benefit early, which would mean that it would be permanently reduced.
Imagine you are 62, retired, but waiting till 70 to collect your Social Security benefit.
