{"id":1254,"date":"2016-08-24T10:33:37","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T14:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.freedomshowers.com\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2023-05-18T16:03:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T20:03:46","slug":"retirement-planning-tips-maximizing-social-security-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/retirement-planning-tips-maximizing-social-security-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Retirement planning tips and the importance of maximizing your Social Security benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By guest writer\u201a Steve Gaito (<\/em>Originally published April 2013)<\/p>\n

Retirement planning can be overwhelming\u201a confusing and unsettling. Without understanding all of your options\u201a you won\u2019t have peace of mind in the decisions you have to make\u201a no matter who helps you. Educating yourself will give you confidence in these important decisions\u201a which will affect you and your spouse\u2019s futures. Here are a few tips to help along the way.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Testing your budget before retirement<\/strong><\/p>\n

After planning you and your spouse\u2019s budget\u201a live on that amount before actually retiring to ensure it works for you. If you both feel comfortable after testing it\u201a you\u2019ll be confident your income plan is a good one. If this budget is difficult to live on\u201a re-evaluate and test it again.<\/p>\n

Aim for a flexible budget<\/strong><\/p>\n

Look at your retirement budget as a guide\u201a not cast in stone. If you overspend in one category\u201a reduce spending in another. You can have a sense of freedom with a retirement budget and adjust it accordingly\u201a but it\u2019s important to remember to not overspend the total budget.<\/p>\n

Consolidate your debt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Consolidating debt before retirement will significantly help make your money last throughout this next step of your life and give you peace of mind. The less debt you have going into retirement\u201a the more comfortable you\u2019ll be throughout. One area you and your spouse can consolidate your debt and payments is by downsizing to a smaller home. It may be an emotional decision \u2013 and it may not be right for everyone\u201a but if you choose to do it\u201a in the end you\u2019ll have more flexibility to do the things you\u2019d like to in retirement.<\/p>\n

Claim your Social Security benefits at the maximum benefit age of 70<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the current economy\u201a more people are opting to start Social Security at age 62. However\u201a this\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0always the best strategy. With people living longer and volatility in the stock market\u201a it is more important than ever to consider all facts before deciding when to start taking Social Security. Working with a financial professional\u201a you can shift other income sources for the earlier years of your retirement to bridge the gap\u201a and then wait until 70 to claim your maximum benefit.<\/p>\n

Evaluate all of your options for claiming Social Security benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n

You only have one chance to claim your Social Security benefits\u201a so it\u2019s important to evaluate all of your options before you make a decision that will affect you and your spouse\u2019s lives throughout retirement. Work as a team when evaluating your options to make decisions that will be best for you as a whole to maximize your benefits.<\/p>\n

About the author: Steve Gaito is a Certified Financial Planner\u2122 practitioner with nearly 20 years of experience helping individuals\u201a companies and nonprofits prepare for their financial futures. He is the founder of My Retirement Education Center\u201a based in Raleigh\u201a NC\u201a that offers educational classes where people can learn the basics and move forward with confidence.\u00a0<\/em>Visit his Linkedin page here https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/stevegaito<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it on Facebook or Twitter below<\/em>.<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/strong> We\u2019d love to meet you on Twitter here<\/a><\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>or on\u00a0Facebook here<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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By guest writer\u201a Steve Gaito (Originally published April 2013) Retirement planning can be overwhelming\u201a confusing and unsettling. Without understanding all of your options\u201a you won\u2019t have peace of mind in the decisions you have to make\u201a no matter who helps you. Educating yourself will give you confidence in these important decisions\u201a which will affect you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[119,117,118],"class_list":["post-1254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-financial-planning-for-seniors","tag-money","tag-retirement-planning","tag-social-security-benefits"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7744,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions\/7744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomshowers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}