When is the best time to claim Social Security?

Good question. As you approach retirement, few decisions can impact your long-term financial well-being more than when you begin to collect Social Security. The conventional wisdom of "wait as long as possible" to begin collecting is often not the best solution. This is especially true if you are married or are able to collect a benefit from a former spouse. Your expected life span, income from other sources, and the time value of money all complicate any analysis.

This calculator was independently developed and is available at no cost. Behind the scenes it does a sophisticated month-by-month analysis and reports not only the best strategy, but also the worst strategy and the results of starting Social Security as early as possible and as late as possible. It accounts for the present value of future payments, survivor benefits if one spouse dies first, the "retirement earnings test", and expected life span. Many of the inputs like your expected life span are just estimates (obviously). This calculator makes it easy to go back and change any of them to see how your best strategy changes.

A complete analysis requires very little data. Just click "Enter Your Data" at left to get started!

Marital Status:
Special notes if you are divorced:
  • You cannot claim a benefit from your former spouse if you were married for less than 10 years or if you have remarried. Select "Single" or "Married" instead.
  • If you were age 60 or older when you remarried, and your former spouse is deceased, you CAN collect a survivor benefit based on your former spouse's record. But you cannot "double-dip" and also collect a spousal benefit from your current spouse. You'll need to separately select "Married" and "Widowed", adjust the spouse details accordingly, and compare the results.
  • If you have been divorced for more than two years, nothing your former spouse does can affect your benefit. If you were divorced more recently and your spouse is age 62 or older, these results may not be correct. You cannot collect a spousal benefit until he/she begins to collect Social Security, and your benefit may be reduced if your former spouse is still working.
You
Your Spouse
Date of Birth:
Sex:
Primary Insurance Amt:
$
$
This is your projected monthly Social Security retirement benefit if you begin to collect at your full retirement age. It is different for every person and is based on one's lifetime earnings. Go to https://www.ssa.gov/retirement/plan-for-retirement, get your "At full retirement" benefit, and enter it above. If your spouse died before age 62 there is a special calculation that may result in a higher Primary Insurance Amount. You may need to contact Social Security directly to get this amount.
Age your spouse died:
years
Age your spouse started Social Security:
years
Leave blank if your spouse died before starting Social Security.
Use Advanced Options Ignore Advanced Options
Life Expectancy:
years
years
Enter a specific age of death if you want to project Social Security payments until then. Otherwise leave this blank and we will use a life expectancy based on Social Security mortality tables.
Target Retirement Age:
years
years
In addition to details on the best and worst strategies for claiming Social Security, you can also see the result of claiming your own retirement benefits at any specific age you enter here. In the spouse column enter the age at which you will claim a survivor benefit. In your own column enter the age at which you will collect your own retirement benefit.
Earnings in Retirement:
$/ year
$/ year
You can continue to work after you start to collect Social Security, but your earnings from a job or self-employment may reduce your benefit if you collect before your Full Retirement Age. Any reduction in your own retirement benefit will be made up in later years. Enter the amount you expect to earn each year (before taxes, and in today's dollars). Do not include income from investments, pensions, annuities, interest, or other retirement benefits. See www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/EN-05-10069.pdf for more information.
Discount Rate:
%
A dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future since you can invest it today and earn a return. This Discount Rate should be what you expect to earn after taxes and inflation. Leave this blank if you are unsure and we will use a rate based on recent history.
Use Old Rules?
Use old rules for claiming spousal benefits
Restrictions on claiming spousal benefits went into effect in May 2016. The analysis uses those new rules but you can check this box to see how your strategy would have differed under the old rules.

Summary of Results

Click on a row to see details for that strategy below.

Useful resources...

Just some of the advantages of this calculator over many others, including those that require that you pay a fee:

  • It bases its analysis on the present value of future payments.
  • If you are married it will switch you to a survivor benefit if your spouse dies first and it is higher than your own benefit.
  • It applies the retirement earnings test if you or your spouse collects benefits and continue to work before your Full Retirement Age.
  • It accounts for your expected life span. You can use a standard estimate based on your age and sex, or specify your own.

This analysis can only account for retirement benefits based on your or your spouse's income. If any family members receive disability, children's, or dependent parent's benefits these results may not be accurate. Moreover, it is not a complete financial plan. It does not consider factors such as the size of your retirement savings, your ability to work into your 60's, and your need for cash in the earlier years of retirement.

Usage tips

  • The most important piece of information is your "Primary Insurance Amount" which you find by logging into the Social Security website.
  • All amounts, including future payments, are in current dollars. Social Security payments will be adjusted for inflation when you receive them.
  • You must be age 62 for an entire month before you can collect Social Security (or age 60 if your spouse is deceased). Unless you were born on the 1st or 2nd of the month, you can't start collecting until the month after you turn 62 (or 60).
  • We present a single best strategy and a single worst strategy. Other claiming strategies may produce the same result, but they involve claiming at a later date.
  • Click "Print Report" or use your browser's print function to produce a nice report of the results.

Privacy

We do not collect any personal identifying information, and neither we nor any third party tracks your activity from one session to the next. For your convenience, we do store the information you enter in a "cookie" on your computer so that you don't have to re-enter it when you come back to the site.

Contact

For suggestions and comments please email mike@whentoclaim.com.