Here’s the biggest driver of your Social Security check in 2026. Hint: it’s not

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If you're approaching retirement and worried about the size of your benefit check, delayed retirement credits are often presented as your most powerful tool.

You can boost your monthly Social Security payouts by as much as 24% by simply waiting to file until the age of 70 instead of 67, according to the Social Security Administration (1). That's a big jump in passive income, for sure, but these credits aren't the only tool at your disposal.

In fact, there is another factor that could have as much, if not more, of an impact on your final payments. Here's a closer look at this key driver of Social Security that most people miss.

When you look under the hood, one of the key variables the SSA considers while calculating your payout is your lifetime earnings. However, the SSA doesn't consider every single dollar earned over the course of your entire career. Instead, it uses a highly specific formula to determine eligibility.

Here's how it works: The SSA (2) takes your 35 highest-earning years, indexes them for wage inflation so old paychecks count in today's dollars, and divides the t

Fuente original: Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/articles/biggest-driver-social-security-check-121000735.html)