Throughout your career, you should ideally be saving and investing for retirement. In many cases, it happens passively through a 401(k) or related account. In other cases, it takes a little work on your end when you use accounts like a traditional IRA or Roth IRA.
While you’re doing this, Social Security is working behind the scenes to keep a running record of your lifetime earnings to determine your eventual benefit. The other part of what determines your Social Security benefit is when you claim it. For many Americans, Social Security will account for a significant portion of their retirement income, so the claiming decision is one of the most important decisions people make as they’re approaching retirement.
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