Age 70

If you want to maximize your Social Security payments, you can delay claiming your benefits from your full retirement age up to age 70. For each year you wait it out, your Social Security payments increase by 8 percent. This yields greater benefits! “When you think of Social Security the right way, as insurance against outliving your money, then it makes sense to wait until age 70 for the highest payout available,” says Robert R. Schulz, president of Schulz Wealth in Mansfield, Texas.

“If you wait until after full retirement age to claim your retirement benefit, the amount you receive will be greater than your primary insurance amount,” says Mike Piper, a certified public accountant and author of “Social Security Made Simple.” “The increase is two-thirds of 1% of your primary insurance amount for each month you wait beyond full retirement age up to age 70, beyond which there is no increase for waiting.”