5. Taking a lump sum

As you probably know, waiting until you reach full retirement age to claim your benefits means that your check will increase for the rest of your life. But if you need money ASAP, you could also opt to file for a lump sum of up to six months of those Social Security benefits.

For instance, if you file at the age of 70 and your monthly benefit at full retirement age is $1,500, the amount of money you could claim for your lump sum is up to $9,000.

However, don’t think that this means some extra money, because it’s actually the opposite. If you take this amount as a lump sum, it could actually turn into one of the reasons for reduced Social Security benefits, and it won’t be included in the monthly checks you’ll receive in the future.

So what this means is that the 24% increase you might expect to get on a monthly basis at the age of 70 will actually be somewhat reduced.