{"id":140711,"date":"2025-11-18T06:05:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/140711\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T06:05:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:05:18","slug":"near-retirement-make-these-5-moves-now-to-maximize-social-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/140711\/","title":{"rendered":"Near Retirement? Make These 5 Moves Now To Maximize Social Security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re nearing retirement<\/a>, the decisions you make today could significantly impact how much Social Security income you receive for the rest of your life. With the right strategies, you can boost your benefits and reduce your tax burden.<\/p>\n

If you want to maximize your Social Security benefits, these are the moves you need to make now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Check Out: How Much the Average Upper-Class Retiree Claims in Social Security Benefits at Age 65<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Next: 6 Safe Accounts Proven To Grow Your Money Up To 13x Faster<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most impactful decisions you will make is when you begin to collect your Social Security benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year you wait to claim past your full retirement age<\/a> up to age 70 increases your benefit by roughly 8%,\u201d said Steve Harrell, director of retirement solutions at Wright-Patt Credit Union<\/a>. \u201cFor someone with a longer life expectancy or other income sources to draw from, waiting can significantly boost lifetime benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early claiming results in a permanent reduction of up to 30% of your full benefit.<\/p>\n

Discover More: Top 8 States To Move to If You Don\u2019t Want To Pay Taxes on Social Security<\/a><\/p>\n

Couples can increase total household benefits by strategically timing when each person claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, one spouse may begin collecting earlier, while the other delays to earn delayed retirement credits,\u201d Harrell said.<\/p>\n

Paying down high-interest debt<\/a> or refinancing major expenses can make it easier to delay claiming Social Security and reduce financial stress once retired, Harrell noted.<\/p>\n

When planning when to retire, ensure you have 35 years in the workforce to avoid reductions to your Social Security benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you work fewer than 35 years, the Social Security Administration will enter zeros for your non-working years when calculating your average earnings, significantly lowering your benefit,\u201d Harrell said.<\/p>\n

Use tax-planning strategies<\/a> to reduce the taxes you pay on your benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrategies like converting funds from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA can help manage your taxable income in retirement, potentially reducing or eliminating the tax on your Social Security benefits,\u201d Harrell said.<\/p>\n

You should also be mindful of the provisional income threshold.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on your other income in retirement, your Social Security benefits may be taxable,\u201d Harrell said. \u201cFor 2025, if your provisional income is above certain thresholds \u2014 $23,000 for a single filer, $32,000 for a couple \u2014 up to 50% of your benefits may be taxable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re nearing retirement, the decisions you make today could significantly impact how much Social Security income you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245,1050,1051,95517],"class_list":{"0":"post-140711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance","15":"tag-social-security","16":"tag-social-security-administration","17":"tag-steve-harrell"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}