Strategies for Women to Maximize Social Security Benefits

When it comes to filing for Social Security, everyone should be taking steps to maximize their eligible Social Security benefits.

However, findings of a Center for Retirement Research at Boston College study estimating that more than $10 billion in benefits are left on the table each year make this more clear than ever. The issue of unclaimed benefits is even greater for women, for a multitude of reasons.

If you are a woman approaching retirement — whether you are single, married, divorced or widowed — it's critical that you review all of your eligible Social Security filing options to ensure that you're getting the most you are entitled to from Social Security.

From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance

Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues

CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.

Sign up

For many women, identifying their optimal Social Security filing strategy may be one of the most important financial decisions they make when planning for retirement.

Why is maximizing Social Security benefits of particular importance to women?

Women earn less. The gender pay gap has slightly narrowed in the United States over the past 20 years or so.

In 2024, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers — a number that corresponds to an equal reduction in individual Social Security benefits.

Women have lower Social Security benefits. On average, the Social Security benefit for women 65 and older is just over $13,000 per year, compared to $17,000 for men of the same age, according to the Social Security Administration.

Women rely more on Social Security. Thirty percent of women 65 and older rely on Social Security for more than 90% of their income, compared with 23% of men of the same age. For unmarried women, including those who are widowed, divorced or have never married, this number jumps to 36%.

Women leave the workforce more often to serve as caretakers. More than 61% of family caregivers are women, according to the 2025 AARP report Caregiving in the U.S., making this group particularly susceptible to loss of income and lower personal benefits from Social Security.

Women live longer. A longer life expectancy requires an increase in retirement income to support additional costs for housing, medical and long-term care expenses.

While there's no changing these numbers in the near term, the good news is that there are specific strategies that can help you boost your Social Security income considerably over the long term.

A New York Life Wealth Watch survey found that nearly half of women would prefer to obtain financial advice from a professional — including advice for maximizing Social Security benefits.

Isn't it time to change that fact and bring home the highest-possible income during what may be the most financially challenging years of your life?

The ideal strategy is as individual as every woman, but below are a few tips to get started on a path to a more comfortable retirement.

Single women: It's all about longevity risk

The primary financial risk in retirement is often not the risk of dying young, but rather the risk of living too long and possibly outliving your savings. If you're single, outliving your money may be your biggest retirement fear — especially if you've never been married and must rely on your own savings and Social Security benefits.

Despite the common misconception that living expenses will decrease with age, expenses often rise as you get older due to the cost of long-term care and medical care associated with longevity, not to mention the rising cost of living that comes with inflation.

To help combat these challenges, consider these options:

Delay claiming to boost benefits. While the majority of women claim benefits at age 62, the earliest possible age to file, waiting until age 70 can increase your annual benefits by 8% a year, from full retirement age (between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born) to age 70, provided by delayed retirement credits (DRCs).

Benefits may also increase due to annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs).

Turn to other savings first. You could draw from your savings or investments, such as your 401(k) or IRA, to bridge the income gap until you claim your benefits — unless these other funds are earning more than an 8% guaranteed annual return, the equivalent of the DRC.

Married women: It's critical to understand spousal and survivor benefits

If you're married, knowing whether you are eligible for spousal benefits is critical. Even if you did not qualify for your own Social Security benefit, because you had fewer than 10 years of earned income (for example, a stay-at-home mom), you may be eligible for a spousal benefit.

If your spouse were to predecease you, which is often the case since women typically outlive men, knowing how to maximize survivor benefits is important.

Eligible for spousal benefits? If your own benefit at full retirement age is less than 50% of your spouse's full retirement age benefit, you are eligible to collect an amount equal to 50% of your spouse's benefit.

In order to collect this spousal benefit, however, your spouse must be collecting their benefit at the time you file for spousal benefits, and you have to have been married for at least 12 months.

How to maximize survivor benefits. If your spouse defers their benefit to age 70, not only does their benefit amount increase by 8% per year (plus any increases due to COLA) from full retirement age to age 70, but their higher total benefit amount also represents your survivor benefit should they predecease you.

Your survivor benefit is equal to 100% of the benefit they were collecting at the time they passed. If they had not yet filed for their benefit, you would receive 100% of what their Social Security benefit amount had accrued to, provided you filed for survivor benefits at your full retirement age or later.

You can collect a survivor benefit as early as age 60. However, it will be a reduced amount as compared to filing when you reach your FRA or later.

Child and child-in-care benefits: These benefits are paid when caring for minors

If a parent files to collect their Social Security benefits while they have a minor child, the minor child is eligible to collect an amount equal to 50% of the parent's full retirement age benefit, until the child reaches age 18 (or 19 if still in high school).

This scenario often plays out as a result of second marriages, especially when a man remarries and has a child with a younger spouse.

However, there may be an additional Social Security benefit, called a child-in-care benefit. If a woman was a stay-at-home mom at the time her spouse filed for Social Security benefits, then she may be eligible to collect a child-in-care benefit equal to 50% of her spouse's benefit amount until the child reaches age 16.

If a child and child-in-care benefit are paid at the same time, then each benefit would be reduced due to the family maximum rules.

Divorced and widowed women: Know your requirements for eligibility

If you're divorced, you typically can't count on the financial resources of an ex-spouse. However, when it comes to Social Security benefits, you may have more options than you may think:

Claim ex-spousal benefits on an ex-spouse's earnings. If you're divorced but were married for at least 10 years and divorced for at least two years, you may be eligible to claim ex-spousal benefits on your ex's Social Security benefits — but only if you didn't get remarried and your own benefit at your FRA was less than 50% of your ex-spouse's benefit at their FRA.

If you remarried but that marriage also ended in divorce, you may once again have the option of claiming ex-spousal benefits from the highest-earning ex-spouse. (Of course, you can claim benefits on the earnings of only one former spouse at a time.)

Remarried after 60? Collect survivor benefits. If you remarry, you typically are no longer eligible to collect survivor benefits from a former spouse.

However, if you remarry after age 60 and your ex-spouse dies, you have the option to claim survivor benefits on the earnings of your ex-spouse, equal to 100% of their benefit amount, even if your ex-spouse had remarried.

In that scenario, both you and their new spouse may be eligible to collect 100% survivor benefits.

Women need to take charge when planning for benefits

If you were out of the workforce for any period of time — to be a stay-at-home mom, assist a family member as a caregiver or for any other reason — achieving an employment record of at least 10 years (40 quarters) is required in order to be eligible for any individual benefits.

It can sometimes be well worth the effort to take a full- or part-time job to complete the 10-year minimum.

Also note that, even if you begin to collect benefits at FRA, you may still be able to increase your future benefit amount because your benefit is based on your highest 35 years of indexed earnings, even if those earnings occur while you are collecting benefits.

Regardless of your marital status, as a woman, you likely face a longer lifespan and lower earnings than a man — both of which make maximizing your Social Security benefits particularly important.

If you have not yet filed a claim for benefits, consider these strategies as a starting point and talk to a qualified Social Security adviser to be sure you're doing all you can to ensure a more comfortable and secure retirement.

Related Content

• Social Security Warning: Five Missteps Too Many Women Make
• Social Security Strategies for High-Net-Worth People
• Five Retirement Tips to Help Women Take Control of Their Future
• The Average Social Security Check by Age
• Why Women May Want to Work Longer: It's About More Than Money