{"id":94235,"date":"2025-08-19T12:01:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/94235\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T12:01:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:01:18","slug":"8-common-mistakes-retirees-make-with-their-social-security-checks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/94235\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Common Mistakes Retirees Make With Their Social Security Checks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Beginning to take Social Security benefits can be an overwhelming process for retirees<\/a> since there are lots of rules and regulations, often tucked into the fine print, so to speak. It\u2019s easy to make choices, or fail to, that can have a negative impact on your Social Security checks in big and small ways.<\/p>\n

Learn More: 3 Little-Known Social Security Rules That Could Save You Thousands<\/a><\/p>\n

For You: 10 Unreliable SUVs To Stay Away From Buying<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are some common mistakes retirees make<\/a> with their Social Security checks so you can hopefully avoid them.<\/p>\n

Many retirees decide to start collecting Social Security benefits as soon as they reach the minimum age of 62, often without fully understanding the long-term implications of beginning benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cClaiming benefits early<\/a> can lead to permanently reduced monthly payments,\u201d said Christopher Stroup, certified financial planner (CFP) and owner of Silicon Beach Financial. \u201cClaiming your benefits at age 62 can result in decreased benefits upwards of 25% to 30% versus waiting until full retirement age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, just because you postponed taking it at 62, for example, doesn\u2019t mean you have to keep waiting until you\u2019re 67. You can take it at any time in between and receive the prorated amount.<\/p>\n

A related aspect of this, according to Patrick Ray, senior vice president at Wealth Enhancement Group, is not understanding the timing between when you file and when you first start receiving your checks.<\/p>\n

The Social Security Administration (SSA) gives people roughly a three-month window from application to first receiving your checks. Ray explained that he works with many retirees that leave their work payroll upon retirement, which means they\u2019re no longer getting a paycheck, and often misinterpret the timing of when they\u2019ll get their first checks.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if someone decides to retire in June, they probably should start the process in April as it turns out because that does not happen overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Some retirees overlook the potential benefits that could be available through spousal claims<\/a>, Stroup said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA spouse can claim benefits based on their own earnings record or up to 50% of the other spouse\u2019s benefit if it\u2019s higher. For couples where one spouse has significantly higher earnings, failing to strategize around spousal benefits can result in missed opportunities,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

A big common mistake retirees make is not understanding that Social Security benefits can be taxable<\/a>, depending on a retiree\u2019s total income. Stroup said, \u201cMany retirees forget to account for how their Social Security income will be taxed, which can influence their retirement income strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story Continues <\/p>\n

Ray agreed, saying, \u201cPeople do not know that their Social Security [tax] lands anywhere between 15% and 85% of their benefit depending on what their household adjusted gross income is. So, it makes for an interesting discussion when someone finds out that their tax responsibility is short because they didn\u2019t withhold enough or they don\u2019t withhold anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This is why it\u2019s critical to speak to a tax or financial advisor before you even take Social Security, Ray said.<\/p>\n

Another mistake is the lack of understanding how Social Security benefits impact their other retirement assets, Ray said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the plan was to reduce what they take out of their retirement monies to otherwise coordinate with their need for monthly cashflow, a lot of people use Social Security as an added buffer of additional monies that they\u2019ve all of a sudden come into when, in fact, it makes a ton of sense to consider reducing what they remove from their retirement assets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of these mistakes, Ray said, can be chalked up to not planning appropriately<\/a> and far enough in advance. \u201cThe moral of the story is plan, plan, plan. You can\u2019t afford enough time to plan appropriately for what\u2019s best for you and your family. That\u2019s the takeaway.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shared that 74% of people over the age of 50 do not have a written financial plan.<\/p>\n

Another common mistake Ray sees in his clients is people thinking they\u2019ll have more money to spend in retirement than they did when they worked, due to Social Security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just goes back to planning and projecting and budgeting all aspects of what retirement looks like so that you\u2019re prepared to transition accordingly. Running financial projections is a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many people don\u2019t consider how long they will live and how many years in retirement they truly need to fund, Ray said. He considers this another aspect of poor planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the males in your family have all died before 75 years old, it\u2019s reasonable to assume that you might not make it past 75 years old. But that doesn\u2019t mean that you shouldn\u2019t run a financial projection to see what it would look like in case you lived 85 years old or 90 years old and commensurate with the other thought process.\u201d Not doing so means you risk running out of money because you live too long.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Most of these mistakes can be avoided with thoughtful planning and the help of a financial advisor.<\/p>\n

More From GOBankingRates<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com<\/a>: 8 Common Mistakes Retirees Make With Their Social Security Checks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beginning to take Social Security benefits can be an overwhelming process for retirees since there are lots of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,23583,63937,63936,147,530,733,1552,44571],"class_list":{"0":"post-94235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-christopher-stroup","10":"tag-claiming-benefits","11":"tag-patrick-ray","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance","14":"tag-social-security","15":"tag-social-security-administration","16":"tag-spousal-benefits"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}