3 Ways to Get More Social Security in 2026

The single most powerful tool to increase your monthly check is also the simplest: wait to claim. If you were born in 1960 or later, your full retirement age is 67. You can claim then, but you don't have to. For every year you delay past that age, your benefit gets an automatic boost.

The math is straightforward. For each year you wait, your monthly payment increases by 8%. This continues until you reach age 70. So, if you delay from 67 to 70, you'll see a permanent raise of roughly 24% on your base benefit. It's a guaranteed return, built into the system.

There's another important benefit to this strategy. Because your monthly check is larger when you finally start receiving it, any future cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) will be calculated on that higher amount. This means your benefit will grow faster over time, providing a bigger cushion against inflation in your later years.

Of course, this is a bet on longevity. By waiting, you're forgoing payments for a few years. If you don't live past 70, you may end up with fewer total dollars from Social Security. But for those in good health, the trade-off is often worth it. It's a way to lock in a larger paycheck for the rest of your life.

Optimize Your Spousal Benefit Strategy

For married couples, the goal is to maximize the total income from Social Security. The key lever here is understanding how spousal benefits work and how one partner's choices can directly affect the other's payout.

The spousal benefit is designed to be half of what the higher-earning spouse receives at their full retirement age. If your partner claims at their full retirement age and gets a monthly check of $2,000, your maximum spousal benefit would be $1,000. That's the ceiling.

Here's the crucial twist: the higher-earning spouse can grow their own benefit by delaying their claim. For every year they wait past full retirement age, their benefit increases by about 8%. This isn't just a raise for them-it also raises the ceiling for your spousal benefit. In other words, by delaying, your partner is effectively increasing the maximum amount you could receive.

You, on the other hand, have a different set of options. You can claim your spousal benefit as early as age 62, but doing so comes with a permanent penalty. The benefit will be permanently reduced. Since the spousal benefit already caps at 50% of your partner's full retirement age benefit, claiming early means you could end up with significantly less than $1,000 in this example.

So the smart strategy often involves one partner-typically the higher earner-delaying their claim to boost the overall pot. The other partner can then claim a spousal benefit later, when it's at its maximum, or even switch from their own benefit to a larger spousal one. It's about coordinating your moves to get the most cash flow over your lifetimes.

Avoid the Earnings Test Pitfalls

The Social Security system has rules that can quietly reduce your monthly check if you're not careful. Two of the biggest traps involve working while collecting benefits and how you file for spousal help. Understanding these can protect your income stream.

The first trap is the earnings test for those under full retirement age. If you're working and collecting benefits before you reach your full retirement age, your payments can be reduced. For 2026, the limit is $24,480. For every $2 you earn above that amount, Social Security will deduct $1 from your monthly benefit. This isn't a one-time penalty; it's a direct reduction to your cash in the register each month. The good news is that once you hit full retirement age, there's no limit on how much you can earn. The earnings test is a temporary hurdle, not a permanent scar on your benefit.

The second, more complex pitfall is the "deemed filing" rule. This applies to anyone who turned 62 before January 2, 2016. The law changed in 2015 to discourage a strategy where one partner could claim a spousal benefit while letting their own retirement benefit grow. Now, if you're eligible for both your own retirement benefit and a spousal benefit, and you're under full retirement age, you must claim both at once. You'll receive the higher of the two amounts, but you lose the option to claim one while letting the other grow. It's a rule that can permanently cap your potential payout if you're not aware of it.

The bottom line is that these rules are designed to protect the system's finances, but they can also protect your own. By knowing the earnings limit and the deemed filing trap, you can plan your work and filing strategy to avoid these reductions. It's about making informed choices to keep more of your hard-earned benefit.