5 Reasons to Pause Social Security Benefits

Among the most common tasks retirement-focused financial planners are asked to do on behalf of their clients and prospects is to help optimize the claiming of Social Security, with the goal generally being to maximize the amount of wealth a person or couple receives from the federal program.

So, it may come as a surprise that, in certain limited circumstances, it can actually make sense for a client to temporarily stop their Social Security benefit. In fact, as explored in a new blog post published by Norm Haug, an analyst and staffer at the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts, there are a number of reasons a client might want to stop receiving benefits after they’ve made their claim or may even want to repay money they have received.

As Fidelity Investments explains, there are two ways to get a “do-over” of sorts on a Social Security claim — suspension and withdrawal.

A client who has reached full retirement age can suspend their benefits and earn delayed retirement credits, allowing their monthly benefit to grow, up to age 70, though they can restart their benefits at any time.

A client of any age who has collected benefits has 12 months to withdraw their claim. They must repay any benefits they, their spouse or dependents have received, and the Social Security Administration will treat them as if they never enrolled, Fidelity explains.

See the slideshow for a review of the various reasons a client could benefit from pausing their Social Security benefits, based on Haug’s blog and Fidelity’s guide.