It would seem that Americans of a certain age would be pretty knowledgeable about the benefits of a government program that essentially all of them have been paying for since they began working all those years ago. The fact is, however, that Americans between the ages of 45 and 64 lack the necessary knowledge of Social Security in ways that could severely impact benefits and retirement decisions.

That is the main result of a recent surveys conducted by AARP of certified financial planners and American consumers who are close to retirement but have not yet begun to collect Social Security benefits.

Here are some results of the consumer survey:

• About half of consumers ages 45 to 64 expect that Social Security will be a major source of retirement income, with 39% expecting it to make up 50% or more of their total retirement income.
• A large majority (88%) know that waiting from age 62 until their full retirement age will yield a larger benefit payment, buy on one-third know claiming the benefit at age 70 results in the maximum payment.
• The most common sources of information about Social Security retirement benefits are friends and family (46%) and the Social Security Administration (45%). A financial planner was mentioned by just 16% of survey respondents.

Among survey results for the financial planning professionals, slightly more than 40% estimate that Social Security will be a major source of retirement income. A full 94% said that most of their clients will rely on Social Security benefits for half or less of their retirement income.

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Comparing other responses from consumers and financial planners is instructive too:

• Some 9% of consumers believe they are very knowledgeable about how Social Security benefits are determined; financial planners put the number at about 1%.
• Financial planners are twice as likely as consumers (14% to 7%) to say that they are very confident that the Social Security system will provide their clients with benefits at least equal in value to those received by today’s retirees.
• Nearly 30% of financial planners recommend that retirees wait until they are 70 to begin collecting benefits, but just 13% of consumers plan to wait that long.

By the way, waiting until full retirement age increases the Social Security benefit by 25% to 30%, depending on a person’s year of birth, according to the AARP study.

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