Retirement Social Security

Here's How To Boost Your Social Security Benefit Up to 8% in 1 Year

This easy trick could give you larger checks for life.

By Maurie Backman

Edited by Laura Hohenstein

Updated March 18, 2026

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Social Security will probably become an important source of income for you once you retire. The more money you get each month, the more fun and stress-free retirement might be.

The good news is that you don't have to settle for the monthly benefit you're entitled to at full retirement age. Thanks to the program's delayed retirement credits, a $2,000 check at full retirement age could be worth about $2,480 if you hold off on claiming Social Security until age 70.

Let's walk through how Social Security's delayed retirement credits work and whether it makes sense for you to delay your claim.

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How Social Security's delayed retirement credits work

Before we discuss boosting your Social Security checks, let's review how those benefits are calculated.

The Social Security Administration takes your 35 highest-paid years of income and uses a special formula that indexes earlier earnings for inflation to calculate your primary insurance amount. Think of that as the base amount you collect if you file at full retirement age.

Full retirement age is based on your year of birth, and it's 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. You can claim Social Security before reaching full retirement age (starting at 62), but your monthly benefit is permanently reduced if you file early.

On the other hand, you get delayed retirement credits if you file for Social Security after full retirement age. Each month you wait past that point boosts your benefits by 2/3 of 1%, or about 8% per year. Those credits stop accruing once you turn 70.

Now, say you're eligible for $2,000 a month in Social Security at full retirement age, which is 67 for this example. If you file one year later, you can grow your monthly benefit to about $2,160. File two years later, and your benefit grows to about $2,320. And if you wait three years, until age 70, you could be looking at about $2,480 a month instead.

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Why it pays to delay Social Security

There's a clear downside to waiting past full retirement age to claim Social Security. Whether you delay by one year, two years, or three, you'll be waiting that much longer to get your money. That could, depending on your situation, mean having to work longer.

On the other hand, Social Security may end up being your one source of guaranteed retirement income. Unless you buy an annuity or have an employer pension, your remaining income streams may be ones that could run out in time.

The more Social Security you get, the more longevity protection you get. If you end up living until your 90s, even if your savings run out, Social Security will be there to pay you a monthly benefit.

Plus, the 8% boost you get by delaying your benefits past full retirement age is a guaranteed return. And it's hard to get as strong a guaranteed return elsewhere.

Usually, to get an 8% return, you need to put your money into a stock portfolio, which carries a lot of risk. A delayed Social Security claim gives you an 8% yearly return, so to speak, without having to take on the risk of investing.

Who stands to benefit from a delayed claim

Delaying Social Security isn't automatically a smart move, despite the guaranteed boost. The reason? You'll want to make sure you're likely to live long enough to come away with more lifetime income by waiting to file. If you have health problems that are likely to shorten your lifespan, filing earlier may be a better idea.

Let's go back to our example. If you're eligible for $2,000 a month in Social Security at age 67 and you delay until 70, you boost your checks by $480. But you also get fewer checks because you're waiting three years past full retirement age to take benefits.

What you want to do here is calculate your breakeven age, which is when total lifetime benefits from claiming early equal the total benefits you get by waiting. In this example, your breakeven age is 82 1/2. At that age, you'll collect a total of $372,000 in Social Security benefits, whether you file at 67 or 70.

So at that point, you need to ask yourself if you're likely to live past age 82 1/2. If the answer is yes, then delaying your claim to age 70 makes sense for you. If you have doubts, you may want to file early.

Generally, claiming Social Security after full retirement age makes sense for people with great health and who have a family history of people living long lives. It could also pay to delay Social Security if you haven't managed to accumulate a lot of retirement savings and will need those benefits to cover most or all of your costs once you stop working.

Finally, it could be wise to delay Social Security if you're married, you're the higher earner in your household, and you're likely to pass away before your spouse. If you predecease your spouse, they're entitled to survivor benefits from Social Security equal to your benefit amount. By delaying your claim and boosting your Social Security checks, you can set your spouse up with more income.

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Bottom line

Delaying Social Security past full retirement age is guaranteed to boost your monthly checks. If you think the extra money will be meaningful to your retirement plan and you're likely to live long enough to collect more lifetime income by waiting, then it pays to go after those delayed retirement credits.

However, delaying benefits doesn't make sense for people with major health problems or an immediate need for income, such as no longer being able to work. And if you have a ton of savings, you may decide to claim Social Security sooner so you can enjoy the money when you're a bit younger. Think about your health, financial needs, and goals for that money when making your decision.

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