Meyer and his business partner and co-author, Baylor University investment management professor Dr. William Reichenstein, think Social Security plays a much bigger role than most realize in whether workers can retire comfortably.

Part of it is knowing that certain opportunities exist within the system, and then educating consumers about those options.

Meyer and Reichenstein have developed software to help individuals and financial advisors complete complex calculations to figure out the effects of one's Social Security choices. It allows workers to instantly see how much they will receive in lifetime Social Security benefits.

Of course, claiming Social Security benefits can be as easy as visiting a Social Security Administration office and telling them you'd either like to take your benefits early, claim them at your full retirement age or wait until age 70. But making the right choice will require a bit more thinking.

When coming up with a strategy, couples should keep in mind which of them made the most money during their careers, how much they have saved up in other investment and savings vehicles, their ages and who they believe will live the longest.

In most cases, women live longer than men, so most financial plans should keep that fact of life in mind and plan for how to get the woman the most benefits she can legally claim after her spouse passes away.

By optimizing Social Security, Meyer and Reichenstein have shown that they can make someone's money last 1 ½ to 11 years longer.

"Social Security is a good hedge on longevity risk," Meyer said. "Most people are living longer, so it is important to maximize survivor benefits. Women are the most at risk to this. They live longer than men."

One of Meyer's techniques is to help couples get their survivor benefits as high as possible. In most cases, though not always, men earn more money than women in their careers. But if both spouses work, they are both eligible to receive Social Security benefits. The challenge is figuring out when each spouse should begin claiming their benefits.

Meyer used an example of a husband who will reap $2,500 in monthly Social Security benefits at his full retirement age of 66, and a wife whose full benefit at age 66 will be $1,000. If the goal is to get the maximum Social Security benefit for the surviving spouse, the husband needs to keep working until age 70. A person's benefit will continue to grow at 8 percent per year after full retirement age, up to age 70, bringing the husband's benefit to about $3,300 a month by age 70.

The wife in this scenario has the option of taking her $1,000 in benefit or taking half of her husband's benefit at age 66, which would give her $1,250 a month instead of her own $1,000. Then, after her husband passes away, she is entitled to his full Social Security benefit of $3,300 a month.

Many women don't realize they are entitled to their ex-husband's Social Security benefits if they were married at least 10 years before a divorce and had been divorced for at least two years at the time of their retirement, said Jim Guiffre, a CPA in Denver and owner of OnPoint Experts.

If they are single at the time of their retirement, divorced women have the option of taking their own benefit or taking half of their ex-spouse's benefit.

A worker can choose to take half of their ex-spouse's Social Security benefit at age 66, while allowing their own to grow to its full potential by age 70. Claiming a former spouse's Social Security benefit "doesn't impact what they get or do," Guiffre said.

Meyer recommends that people work through a number of different scenarios to find the best strategy.

It isn't an intuitive process and the customer service people at the Social Security Administration are not allowed to give advice, Meyer said. It is up to workers to do the analysis and run the numbers to make sure they aren't leaving $100,000 or more in benefits on the table.

For baby boomers born between 1943 and 1954, the full retirement age is 66. At age 62, they can claim 75 percent of their benefit. If they delay retirement until age 70, they can receive 132 percent of their benefit, Meyer said.

The same rules apply for single people. A person who expects to receive $2,000 a month in Social Security benefits can increase their lifetime benefit by $200,000 if they claim their benefits at age 70 instead, he said.

"Never file at your full retirement age or you leave money on the table," he said.

Jim Poe, chairman and founder of Texas Retirement Specialists in Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, contracted with Social Security Solutions last summer to begin using the company's software to help clients manage their Social Security benefit.

He likens retirement planning to the risks in climbing Mount Everest.

"They have elaborate plans for climbing the mountain, but they didn't make plans for coming down. It is insane," Poe said. "They run out of food and oxygen. They are exhausted. All disasters you read about occur on the descent. That's what retirement looks like. You plan to get here. Now you are here. What do you do? Nobody teaches you that."