Let your decision on when to retire be a monetary one that will give you the best bang from your Social Security benefits.

"Most people still take their Social Security benefits as soon as they possibly can, and many of them are leaving money on the table," says Joe Lucey, president of Secured Retirement Advisors in St. Louis Park, Minn.

James Steinberg

And a lot of it. If you retire when you turn 62, the earliest time possible, with an average annual income of $75,000 you will see monthly checks of about $1,628, according to the Social Security Administration's estimated calculations.

Bump that retirement age up to 70 and your monthly income jumps to $2,939, roughly 8% annually.

Fast forward to your 85th birthday and your take on the $1,628 monthly income equals $449,328 compared with the $529,020 you would have accumulated had you waited eight years. What's more, these figures don't include the lost-opportunity costs of that extra $75,000 annually you earned between then, or $600,000, now putting you over the $1.1 million mark.

Monthly benefits are generally determined by how much taxable income you've earned in your life and how old you are when you draw on it. But, as Mr. Lucey points out, "Winner must be present."

Other weighty factors should be considered too, including additional assets in your financial bucket. You might get more mileage by siphoning off withdrawals from individual retirement accounts first and deferring Social Security until later. Other times, you can double dip by collecting Social Security benefits while you're still working. You don't wait for the sake of waiting.

"The rule of thumb is to try to maximize, not defer, Social Security," he says.

Q:I f I retire at age 66 and my wife does then too, at 64, will she receive 50% of my amount or does she have to wait until she reaches 66 to get a full half of mine?

If she decides to retire at 62 and I'm still working, can she draw on her own Social Security account and then I get 50% of that until I turn 66 and elect to draw on my own and she converts to half of mine?

Trent W.St. Paul, Minn.

A:Here's how this works, assuming you and your wife's full retirement age is 66: Any time you draw on someone else's Social Security account before your full retirement age, you won't be able to switch back to your own benefits later. And if you do draw before your full retirement age, you have to collect the highest benefit available to you and you're stuck with it.

So, yes, she has to wait until she's 66 to get the full 50% of yours. However, no matter when your wife retires, you can start collecting half of what her full benefits would be when you turn 66. And then you can switch to your own benefits, which will have grown, later on.

Q:My wife and I became naturalized U.S. citizens in 1987. I am 87 years old. We both worked for a little over a year in the U.S. before retiring because of poor health.

Are either of us entitled to any benefits if our yearly retirement income is under $24,000?

Georges K.,

Aurora, Colo.

A:A naturalized citizen gets treated the same as a born-and-bred American when it comes to Social Security.

But anyone who hopes to draw on those benefits must have the required 40 quarters—or 10 years—of work history in the U.S. first. It doesn't appear either of you have that.

Q:I am a retired postal worker, under a civil-service pension. I am 56 years old and my husband is 76. We have been married for 30 years. If my husband passes away before me, would I be able to draw off his Social Security at a minimum age of 62?

June M.

Knoxville, Tenn.

A:Yes, but it will be reduced. Blame it on the Government Pension Offset provision, which is aimed at leveling the playing field for those who do and don't pay Social Security taxes.

If you get a monthly civil-service pension of $600, two-thirds of that, or $400, is cut from your Social Security benefits. That means if you were eligible for a $500 widow's benefit, your monthly Social Security check would amount to $100.

It gets worse if you start collecting before your full retirement age. If you're 56 and you were born in 1957, your full retirement age is at 66½ years, so collecting at 62 will erode those monthly checks further forever. (See the retirement planner chart at socialsecurity.gov.)

—Email: jenwaters@outlook.com