Social Security: What and When to Collect; What's the Max Strategy if Single, Never Married with No Kids

Most consider their Social Security as their biggest asset. But to get the best from your lifetime benefits, you must know what and when to collect.

Married, divorced, and widowed people are the ones who usually get tips on how to handle their Social Security. This time, it would be best to talk about how single, childless, and never-married people can get the best out of their Social Security.

Avoid taking from your retirement benefit until you reach the age of 70, this is one of the major advices from a Social Security expert. It will have an inflation-adjusted value at 76% more than when you get it when you are 62 years old.

When you are at you full retirement age, file for retirement benefit, but suspend it. This will let you receive your suspended benefits in a single lump sum payment. For this advice, you should hope for a long life.

This advice is from Laurence Kotlikoff, the President of Economic Security Planning Inc., which is a company that specializes on financial planning software. He is also the Director of the Tax Analysis Center. He is known for giving useful advices on finance and security through contributing on popular magazines and sites, such as Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal.

Social Security rewards people for the risk of waiting and hoping to still be alive at an old age, and it rewards people for their investment with Social Security. This means, patience with Social Security pays off.

The case of a married couple could be different. A wife can retire early with reduced benefit. And when her husband reaches his retirement age, he can claim spousal benefit on the wife's account. And when he gets to 70, he can switch to his own account, which is larger. This strategy will depend on how old you will live and which among the couple has higher income.

Patience, strategy, and a long life are some of the best things to consider when trying maximizing your Social Security benefits.