In 2024, the life expectancy for someone born in 1959 was 74 for men and 80.1 for women, according to a Social Security report. The report predicts continuing increases in life expectancy, which translates into even more years that beneficiaries will receive Social Security checks.

Your full retirement age (FRA) is the age at which you'll collect 100% of your benefit based on your work history. This age varies by birth year, but it's age 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later. Those born before 1960 will have a FRA of either 66 or 66 and a few months.

Social Security has a big birthday coming up next year -- it's turning 90! It's kept many millions of people out of poverty for decades and was recently supporting more than 71 million people with around $1.5 trillion in benefits for the year.

Deciding when to take Social Security benefits is one of the most important questions to answer in planning your retirement strategy. Second to that is understanding what might increase-or reduce-your benefit amount.

Social Security is critical to many millions of retirees, keeping lots of them above the poverty line. Whether it keeps you solvent or just enhances your financial security in retirement, Social Security is likely to be an important source of retirement income.

If you wait to claim spousal benefits until your full retirement age, you can receive up to half the amount of your spouse's benefit.