Here’s how you can increase your annual Social Security benefit by up to $156 in one month

You don’t have complete control over how much money you receive from Social Security, but it’s not completely out of your control either. Once you understand the key factors that affect your paychecks, you can take several steps to increase your benefits.

Things like maximizing your income during your working years or delaying benefits until you qualify for the biggest checks at age 70 are very effective. But it takes a long time to see results, and these strategies can pose their own challenges. There is, however, a quick and effective way to increase your benefits.

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Here’s how much more you can get by delaying Social Security for a month

Delaying your Social Security claim increases your benefit little by little until you reach age 70. How fast your benefits grow varies depending on your current age and your full retirement age (FRA). This is between 66 and 67, depending on the year of birth. The following table shows how quickly your benefits grow based on these two factors:

Data source: Social Security Administration.

Getting a fraction of a percent more per month may not seem like much, but it makes a noticeable difference to your paycheck. Let’s say you qualify for the average monthly benefit of $1,918 at age 62 and have an FRA of 67. Delaying from 62 to 62 and a month would earn you an extra $8 per month.

The longer you delay, the faster your checks grow. If you qualified for a monthly benefit of $1,918 at age 64 and deferred until 64 and 1 month, you’d get about $11 more per month. And if you were eligible for $1,918 per month at age 67, you would receive an additional $13 per month at age 67 and 1 month.

Over the course of a year, an extra $13 per month adds up to $156. That’s $3,120 more over a 20-year claim period. And all it took was waiting about 30 days to claim benefits.

Is Delaying The Right Move For You?

Deferring Social Security can help you maximize your retirement benefit for life, but there are some key considerations to keep in mind. First, delaying your Social Security claim means you’ll receive fewer checks. You might be able to get by without benefits for a month or two, but deferring for years may not be feasible unless you have a lot of personal savings or a job to cover your expenses.

Additionally, it may not be worth waiting to claim if you have a short life expectancy. Delaying Social Security usually results in a larger lifetime benefit if you live to be 80 or older, but those who don’t think they’ll live that long usually get more money by claiming as early as possible.

If you’re not old enough to claim Social Security, you have time to think about your options, but it helps to have some kind of plan ahead of time. Once you know when you plan to file, you can estimate how much you’ll get from Social Security by checking the estimated benefit amounts in your Social Security account. You can then use this information to figure out how much you need to save on your own for retirement.