Here's How You Can Grow Your Annual Social Security Benefit by Up to $156 in 1 Month

You don't have complete control of how much money you get from Social Security, but it's not totally out of your hands either. Once you understand the key factors that influence your checks, you can take several steps to boost your benefits.

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

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Here's how much more you can get by delaying Social Security by one month

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

Data source: Social Security Administration.

Receiving a fraction of a percentage more per month may not seem like it would amount to much, but it makes a noticeable difference to your checks. Say you qualify for the average $1,918 monthly benefit at 62 and have a FRA of 67. Delaying from 62 to 62 and 1 month would earn you $8 more per month.

The longer you delay, the more quickly your checks increase. If you qualified for a $1,918 monthly benefit at 64 and delayed 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'd get $13 more per month at 67 and 1 month.

Over the course of a year, an extra $13 per month amounts to $156. That's $3,120 more over a 20-year claiming period. And all it took was waiting roughly 30 days to apply for benefits.

Is delaying the right move for you?

Delaying Social Security could help you maximize your lifetime retirement benefit, but there are a couple of key considerations to keep in mind. First, delaying your Social Security application means you'll receive fewer checks. You may be able to get by without benefits for a month or two, but delaying for years may not be feasible unless you have a lot of personal savings or a job to cover your expenses.

In addition, waiting to claim might not be worth it if you have a short life expectancy. Delaying Social Security typically leads to a larger lifetime benefit if you live into your 80s or beyond, but those who don't think they'll live this long usually get more money by claiming as early as possible.

If you're not old enough to claim Social Security yet, you have some time to think through your options, but it helps to have some sort of plan in advance. Once you know when you plan to claim, you can estimate how much you'll get from Social Security by checking your projected benefit amounts in your my Social Security account . Then, you can use this information to figure out how much you need to save on your own for retirement.

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