| Deciding at what point you will collect Social Security benefits may be one of the biggest decisions you make in retirement.
There's no more important program for Americans' long-term finances than Social Security. The program provides at least 33% of retirement income for all seniors and 50% for half of older retirees. Social Security is enormous and complex, paying out more than $100 billion a month to some 65 million retirees, people with disabilities and their family members.
It's evident that understanding how Social Security benefits work can be a real challenge. There are a lot of rules, the formulas can seem complex and making decisions with incomplete or incorrect information could end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars in retirement income.
That's why it's important for people who are at or near the age to make the big decision may need to brush up on the program's many rules before they start those monthly checks.
MassMutual recently gave a 13-question true/false quiz to 1,500 individuals ages 55 through 65. The quiz was meant as an opportunity to better understand of some basic Social Security facts and planning.
The results of the quiz, however, were nothing to write home about. It simply means many people need to brush up on their Social Security knowledge.
So, are you up to the challenge?
If so, take the quiz yourself and see how you do. You may be surprised how much you know … or don't know about Social Security.
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