4 Ways to Boost Your Social Security Benefit After You've Applied

You may already know that Social Security benefits tend to increase over time, thanks to annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). But if you’ve been receiving checks for a while or you know someone who has, you may also know that COLAs are often underwhelming. The latest estimates put the 2026 COLA at just 2.6%, which would add just $52 to the $2,005 average monthly check as of June 2025.

Fortunately, COLAs aren’t the only thing that can boost your Social Security benefits once you’re already claiming. You can try four other strategies to squeeze even more money out of the program.

1. Withdraw your Social Security benefit application

If you’ve signed up for Social Security within the last year, you have the option to withdraw your Social Security application, meaning you’d stop receiving checks and the government would treat you as if you’d never claimed before. The only catch is that you’d have to pay back all the money you’ve received from the program thus far, and all the money anyone claiming benefits on your work record — like your spouse — has received.

That might seem like a nonsensical thing to do, but there could be real long-term value for those able to pull it off. Every month you delay your Social Security application, it increases your benefit by anywhere from 5/12 of 1% to 2/3 of 1% per month until you turn 70. Delaying for one year could add 5% to 8% to your checks, and may lead to a larger lifetime benefit if you expect to live into your 80s or beyond.

However, not everyone can get that sort of cash together. And if you have a short life expectancy or you can’t afford to cover your bills without Social Security, this may not be the right strategy for you.

2. Suspend your Social Security benefits

If you signed up for Social Security more than one year ago or you can’t afford to pay back the benefits you’ve received, withdrawing your Social Security application isn’t an option, even if you want to. But you can suspend your benefits once you reach your full retirement age (FRA). This is 67 for most people today.

This is similar to withdrawing your application, but it doesn’t require you to pay anything back. Instead, you request that the Social Security Administration stop sending you checks until you either ask that they start again or you reach 70 — the age when you qualify for your maximum benefit. During the time you’re not receiving benefits, your checks will grow by 2/3 of 1% per month, or 8% per year.

This is a great alternative if you’re comfortable forgoing checks for a while. But you still have to think of your life expectancy here. Delaying benefits may not make sense for you if you only expect to live for a few more years.

3. Continuing to work if you earn more now than you did in the past

Your Social Security benefit is based on your average monthly income, adjusted for inflation, over your 35 highest-earning years. For many people, their highest-earning years come later in their lives, after they’ve established themselves in their careers. This presents an opportunity to grow your benefit if you’re comfortable remaining in the workforce a little longer.

Two groups of people will benefit the most from this strategy. The first is those who haven’t yet worked for 35 years. In this case, you have zero-income years factored into your benefit calculation that are bringing down your checks. With every year you continue to work, one of those zero-income years goes away, and your future checks will be larger because of it.

The other people who could benefit are those who have seen their income rise significantly compared to early in their careers. For example, if you made about $30,000 in today’s dollars for the first few years of your career and you built up to $100,000 per year, replacing one of your earliest, lower-earning years with a more recent, high-earning year could make a noticeable difference to your benefit checks in the future.

Just note that the Social Security Administration only taxes the first $176,100 you earn in 2025, and this limit was lower in the past. Any income you earn over the annual limit doesn’t help increase your checks.

You don’t have to do anything to get the government to acknowledge your more recent work history. The Social Security Administration reviews your earnings record annually and will increase your checks if it’s warranted. This change is usually retroactive to January of the year after you earned the money.

4. Apply for a spousal benefit once your partner signs up (if it’s worth more than your retirement benefit)

Married individuals may be eligible for a spousal benefit as well as their own retirement benefit. A spousal benefit is worth up to one-half of the benefit your partner qualifies for at their own FRA. For example, if your partner’s retirement benefit was $2,000 per month, your maximum spousal benefit would be $1,000 per month.

The catch is, you can’t claim a spousal benefit until your partner signs up. If your partner is already on Social Security when you apply, the Social Security Administration will automatically check the amount of your retirement and spousal benefits and give you whichever is larger.

But if your spouse signs up after you, and you believe your spousal benefit is worth more than your own retirement benefit, you may have to contact the Social Security Administration to request that it change you over to your spousal benefit.

If these tips don’t work for you, you can still look forward to the small benefit increase that will come with the 2026 COLA. The Social Security Administration will announce the COLA in mid-October, but you won’t notice a difference until your January 2026 payment.