Take Social Security early

If your birth year is 1973, then you’d reach your full retirement age at 65. However, you don’t need to wait that long to claim your Social Security benefits. You can file for Social Security as early as age 62. but there’s a catch.

If you retire before you hit your full retirement age, you’d be receiving a lower amount. For example, for workers born in 1937 or earlier, retiring earlier, the monthly Social Security benefits would be 20 percent lower; people born in the 1960 or later would receive a 30 percent lower Social Security amount if they would decide to leave the workforce at 62. Therefore, think about your finances and whether it really pays off to wait until your full retirement age or start collecting Social Security earlier to achieve financial stability when you need it the most.

You might also want to know more about these 10 Crucial Things to Consider If You Plan on Retiring in the Next 5 Years.

Find out about social security and divorce

Social Security is more than just a program for retirees. It provides coverage for life insurance as well as disability insurance and can even provide benefits to people who haven’t worked a day in their life. If you are in this situation, you should know you can also receive Social Security benefits if you are married to someone who contributes to Social Security. What’s more, you will still receive those benefits even if you divorce.

To become eligible, your marriage should have lasted at least ten years, you should be at least 62 and your ex-spouse should be eligible for Social Security. You could receive an amount higher than the benefit that your ex-spouse would receive based on their own work record, equal to as much as 50% of their benefits.

RELATED: 7 Biggest Social Security and Medicare Changes in 2021