Photo (cc) by jonolist

If you have focused all your retirement planning energy on your 401(k), you may be missing a key piece of the puzzle: Social Security. You can influence your eventual payout from this safe, dull old-age safety net to a surprising degree by making some adjustments and changes in your planning.

The time to get started pumping up your Social Security checks is now, even if you’ve got decades to go before retirement, as Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson explains in the video below. Check it out, then read on.