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Deciding when to claim Social Security is one of the bigger decisions you'll make in retirement. There isn't one claiming age that works for everyone, and I think it's important to look at more than just how much you would receive at age 62 versus age 70.
When I'm analyzing Social Security for a client, there are a few major pieces that I want to understand before making a recommendation.
The first is understanding your longevity.
I don't need to know exactly how long you're going to live. Nobody knows that. But I do want a good understanding of your health. Are there any underlying conditions that could point toward a shorter life expectancy? Do you have longevity in your family?
Those are all important pieces as we're running through the numbers.
This becomes even more important when we're looking at a married couple. I don't just want to look at one person's life expectancy and make the decision based on that. We need to consider both spouses and what could happen if one spouse lives significantly longer than the other.
For example, let's look at Robert and Denise, the hypothetical couple I've been using for these case studies.
Robert is retiring at age 62. Initially, we're assuming Robert and Denise both live until age 90.
When we look at Social Security by itself, the analysis says Robert should delay his benefit until age 70 and Denise should claim at age 67.
But what happens if we change Robert's life expectancy?
Let's say Robert has several health conditions that make it less likely that he'll live until 90. You might initially think that means he should claim Social Security sooner.
But when we run the numbers, his claiming age doesn't actually change. He's still delaying until age 70.
Denise's claiming age changes instead.
That's because Robert is the higher income earner, so his benefit is much more impactful to the overall plan. Denise's decision is more about when she should start her smaller benefit, knowing that she could eventually receive Robert's higher survivor benefit.
Social Security can be claimed as early as age 62, and you can delay it all the way until age 70. Each year you delay, you're essentially getting more money in your monthly benefit.
But we also need to understand how those benefits will affect your taxes.
Up to 85% of your Social Security benefits can be taxable. That affects how much taxable income you have and when that income starts.
For example, let's say we're looking at a retirement plan that includes some fairly aggressive Roth conversions. It may make sense to delay Social Security further than we originally thought because we're keeping some ordinary income out of the plan.
That could give us more room to convert money from an IRA to a Roth.
This is one of the reasons I don't like looking at Social Security by itself. The claiming decision can affect other parts of the retirement plan.
There's also a piece of the decision that isn't necessarily analytical. It's understanding how the overall plan and portfolio will look depending on when you claim.
Let's say the numbers tell us, “Robert, let's delay Social Security until age 70.”
Robert retires at 62, so there are eight years where the portfolio is covering more of his expenses before Social Security starts.
During those early years, you can see some fairly large withdrawals from the portfolio. In some situations, we could be withdrawing 8–10% of the portfolio.
That sounds concerning if you just look at that number by itself.
Robert could get to age 65 and say, “Beau, I feel like I'm spending all my money. Are we sure this is going to work?”
And that's a fair question.
The important thing is that we're not expecting an 8–10% withdrawal rate to continue for the entire retirement. We're planning for a period of higher withdrawals while the portfolio is covering more of the expenses.
Then Social Security turns on.
Once Robert starts receiving Social Security, the amount we're withdrawing from the portfolio decreases. The portfolio projection starts to level out, and sometimes it can actually start increasing again.
I think it's important for clients to understand this before they retire. If we're recommending that you delay Social Security, you're probably going to see some large withdrawals from the portfolio in those early years. You may look at the account and wonder if something is going wrong.
But if we've constructed the plan correctly, this is exactly what we planned for.
Another important piece of Social Security planning is understanding what happens when one spouse passes away.
In Robert and Denise's case, Robert is the higher income earner.
When Robert eventually passes away, Denise doesn't continue receiving both her own benefit and Robert's benefit. Instead, she receives the higher survivor benefit.
So her own benefit and spousal benefit go away, and she takes over Robert's higher benefit.
This is another reason why looking at each person's Social Security decision separately doesn't give you the full picture.
We're really looking at how the two benefits work together throughout the retirement plan.
This is a big concern for a lot of people right now.
I hear from prospects who say they're going to claim their benefits as early as possible because they're worried they're going to lose them.
I think it's important to take a step back and understand the whole picture.
The Social Security Trustees continue to project a funding shortfall. Under the 2026 Trustees Report, the combined Social Security trust funds are projected to be depleted in 2034. At that point, ongoing program income would be enough to pay about 83% of scheduled benefits if Congress makes no changes. The retirement and survivor trust fund by itself is projected to reach depletion earlier, in late 2032, with about 78% of scheduled benefits payable at that point.
That doesn't mean Social Security disappears.
It means that if Congress does nothing, the amount coming into the program would not be enough to pay all of the benefits currently scheduled under law.
There are other solutions besides simply reducing benefits.
Taxes could also increase. The actual Social Security tax rate could go up, or the earnings cap could be changed or removed.
My guess is that the most realistic scenario is probably some combination of different changes. Maybe we don't see a full reduction in scheduled benefits. Maybe we see a smaller reduction along with an increase in taxes and changes to the earnings cap.
None of those are positive outcomes, but they're also not the same thing as Social Security disappearing.
And this is where I think the argument for claiming early because you're worried about a cut doesn't really work.
Even if benefits were reduced by a similar percentage across claiming ages, you would still receive a higher benefit at age 70 than you would have received if you filed at age 62.
So claiming early doesn't protect you from a potential benefit reduction.
To plan around not having Social Security benefits at all, I think, is way too extreme.
It's more emotion and fear driving the decision. You're worried about what could happen, so you're thinking, “I need to get mine now.”
I don't think that's a good way to plan for retirement.
Instead, I think it's much more useful to stress test the retirement plan.
What happens if Social Security benefits are reduced?
For Robert and Denise, the answer is that their claiming strategy doesn't change.
We're still looking at Robert claiming at age 70 and Denise around age 67 based on the assumptions we're using. They would have less Social Security income overall, but the reduction doesn't change which claiming strategy is most beneficial.
The point is that a potential Social Security cut doesn't necessarily change your claiming strategy. What it can change is the overall retirement and spending plan.
I've run plenty of plans where a hypothetical Social Security reduction doesn't require any adjustments at all. The plan still works.
Other times, I've seen adjustments needed, but they're minor. For many people, a slight decrease in spending is feasible, and they can continue with their planned retirement.
The worst cases are those who start off with a constrained plan. If the plan is already tight, reducing Social Security benefits can make the situation much worse. That's when we may need to talk about working longer or making larger spending cuts.
So if you're concerned about Social Security being cut, I think that's a reasonable concern.
But I don't think the answer is automatically to claim as early as possible.
Instead, I'd want to know what happens to your overall retirement plan if benefits are reduced.
If the plan still works, there's probably no reason to let that fear dictate your claiming decision.
If the plan doesn't work, that's useful information too. Now you know what needs to be addressed while you still have time to make adjustments.
Social Security is an important part of retirement planning, but it shouldn't be looked at in isolation. The goal isn't to predict exactly what Congress will do. It's to understand how different outcomes affect your plan and make decisions based on the retirement you're actually trying to build.
There isn't one best age for everyone. Social Security can generally be claimed as early as age 62, while delaying your benefit can increase your monthly benefit up to age 70. The right decision depends on factors such as your health, life expectancy, spouse's benefits, taxes, portfolio, spending needs, and overall retirement plan.
Not necessarily. Claiming early doesn't protect you from a potential reduction in Social Security benefits. If benefits are reduced in the future, the reduction would affect the overall amount you receive, regardless of when you initially claim. The more important question is how a potential reduction would affect your overall retirement plan.
There is a funding shortfall that needs to be addressed. The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report projects that the combined trust fund reserves will be depleted in 2034, at which point ongoing program income would be sufficient to pay about 83% of scheduled benefits if no changes are made.
That does not mean benefits will necessarily be cut by that amount. Congress could make changes to taxes, benefits, the taxable maximum, or other parts of the program.
Trust fund depletion does not mean Social Security benefits go to zero. Under current projections, ongoing program income would still be available to pay a portion of scheduled benefits. The exact amount would depend on what happens to Social Security's revenues and expenses and what changes Congress makes.
Not necessarily. Married couples may benefit from claiming at different ages because each spouse has a different benefit amount, life expectancy, and role in the overall retirement plan. The higher earner's claiming decision can also have a significant impact on the survivor benefit.
A longer life expectancy generally makes delaying Social Security more valuable because you have more years to receive the larger benefit. A shorter life expectancy can make claiming earlier more attractive. For married couples, however, you need to consider both spouses' life expectancies because the survivor benefit can significantly change the analysis.
Depending on your income, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits can be included in taxable income. This means the timing of Social Security can affect your overall tax plan, including the amount of room you have for Roth conversions.
It can. If you delay Social Security, you may have less ordinary income coming into the plan during the years before Social Security begins. Depending on your other income and tax situation, that could create additional room for Roth conversions.
Spousal benefits can provide benefits based on a spouse's earnings record, while survivor benefits can allow a surviving spouse to receive the higher benefit after the other spouse dies. The rules can be complicated, which is one reason I think married couples should look at their Social Security benefits together rather than making two completely separate claiming decisions.
I think it's reasonable to stress test your retirement plan using a lower Social Security benefit. The important question is what happens to the plan if benefits are reduced. If the plan becomes constrained, you have an opportunity to make adjustments before retirement.
Not necessarily. A reduction in benefits can change the amount of income your retirement plan receives from Social Security, but it doesn't automatically change the relative benefit of claiming at different ages. The claiming decision still needs to be evaluated based on longevity, taxes, spouse and survivor benefits, portfolio withdrawals, and the rest of the retirement plan.
Beau Kemp, CFP®, RMA®
Founder, Financial Advisor
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