Claiming Social Security in 2027? One Key Move Could Boost Your Benefits Before You File

In 2022, the last year there’s data available, the Federal Reserve reported that the median retirement savings balance among seniors ages 65 to 74 was $200,000. If we take that data to heart (which it pays to, since it comes from the Fed, after all), it means we can infer that many seniors end up very reliant on Social Security to cover their living expenses.

If you’re in a similar situation where you have modest or no retirement savings, your monthly Social Security checks may be your primary source of income once you stop working. So it’s important to do what you can to get as much money as possible out of Social Security.

You may be aware that delaying your claim past full retirement age could lead to larger monthly paychecks. But there’s another key step you can take before filing for benefits that could boost your Social Security for life.

Make sure your earnings record is accurate

The Social Security benefits you’re eligible for in retirement are based on your personal wage history coupled with your filing age. But if the Social Security Administration (SSA) has inaccurate wage records on file, it could lead to smaller monthly benefits than what you should be getting.

Social Security calculates your benefits based on your 35 highest-paid years of wages. But let’s say you worked every year between 1990 and 2025, only for some reason, the SSA has no record of wages for 2000 and 2001.

If you earned $40,000 a year during that time rather than $0, and you don’t get that mistake corrected, you could end up with smaller retirement benefits. The SSA will factor two $0s into your benefits formula instead of a total of $80,000 in earnings.

And remember, in that benefits formula, earlier earnings are adjusted for inflation. So the blow could be bigger than you’d expect.

It may also be that the SSA simply has the wrong earnings amount for you in a given year.

Let’s say that in 2022, you embraced the gig economy, earned $10,000 in side hustle income on top of your $70,000 salary, and paid taxes on that extra money. If the SSA somehow only has you down for $70,000 in income that year instead of $80,000, you could lose out on benefits once you’re ready to file.

It’s easy to check your earnings record

You may be thinking that to verify your earnings record with the SSA, you need to haul over to a field office and go through files and paperwork. But the good news is that it’s not that painful.

All you need to do is create an account on the SSA’s website. From there, you can access your earnings statements and review them for accuracy. If there’s a mistake, you can fill out Form SSA-7008 and request that your earnings record be corrected.

This isn’t to say that going through years of earnings statements online won’t take any time at all. But it’s an important exercise to go through before claiming benefits so you don’t accidentally lose out on any of the Social Security you’re entitled to.