nn Here is How to Make Your Money Last as Long

BUDGET YOUR EXPENSES Start with a careful projection of non-discretionary expenses in retirement — food, medical care, utilities and transportation. Next, consider strategies that will allow you to cover these expenses from income sources with guaranteed lifetime payment streams, such as Social Security or a pension.

ASSESS YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY STRATEGY Next, consider ways that you could maximize your Social Security through a delayed benefit claim, said Joe Tomlinson, a financial planner and actuary based in Greenville, Me., who has done extensive research on retirement planning. “I always recommend starting with Social Security,” he said. “It’s like buying annuity, but at a much better price.”

Social Security benefits are calculated using a formula called the primary insurance amount, or P.I.A. Although you can claim benefits as young as 62, by waiting until your full retirement age (currently 66), you’ll receive 100 percent of P.I.A.; every 12 months that you delay beyond that point, until age 70, tacks on an additional 8 percent. And benefits are protected from inflation by the program’s annual cost-of-living adjustment.