One thing soon-to-be retirees need to start looking at carefully is where they fall in terms of Social Security benefits. Whether you start taking withdrawals at 62, 67, or 70, it’s important to understand what impact Social Security withdrawals will have on your income level while retired.

To see all of your Social Security benefits, you need to sign up for a My Social Security account. Note that if you've already signed up for a login.gov or ID.me account, you can skip the following steps and just sign into your account. If you've never signed up for either of these services before, here's what you need to do.

The first round of January’s Social Security payments, worth up to $5,108 for the highest-income earners who retire at age 70, goes out to the first group of retirees today. Here is all you need to know about this month’s Social Security payments,

Are you counting on Social Security as an important source of income in retirement? You're not alone. Nine out of 10 Americans age 65 and older are currently receiving some form of Social Security. And Gallup polling finds 58% of retired Americans consider Social Security to be a "major source" of their retirement income.

You can maximize your benefits if you wait to claim Social Security until your full retirement age or older. However, claiming earlier could shrink your monthly check by as much as 30 percent. Workers can start to get Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62 years of age.