The right Social Security decision rarely begins with an age. It begins with the life the income is meant to support.

Most people ask the Social Security question this way:

“What is the best age to begin?”

They want a number. Age 62. Full retirement age. Age 70.

But after more than three decades of helping hundreds of families plan for retirement—and seeing many of them all the way through it—my team and I have learned that the best answer rarely begins with an age.

It begins with a life.

What do you want your retirement to look like? How much will it cost? Where will your income come from? How long might one spouse live after the other? Could delaying Social Security provide additional flexibility when evaluating retirement income and tax considerations? Would claiming sooner allow you to enjoy the healthier, more active years of retirement—or would it unnecessarily reduce income you may need later?

These are not separate questions. They are parts of one retirement plan.

Social Security is an important decision, but it should not be made in isolation. The goal is not simply to produce the largest possible check. The goal is to coordinate Social Security

with your spending, investments, pensions, taxes, Roth strategy, Medicare premiums and family circumstances so your money helps you live the best retirement life it reasonably can.

That is why the right question is not:

“What claiming age does the internet recommend?”

It is:

“What claiming strategy best supports the retirement we are trying to create?”

First, understand what the ages actually mean

You can generally begin Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. If you claim before your full retirement age, your monthly benefit is permanently reduced from your full retirement benefit.

Full retirement age depends on the year you were born. It ranges from age 66 to 67; for anyone born in 1960 or later, it is 67.

If you delay beyond full retirement age, delayed retirement credits can increase your monthly worker benefit until age 70. For people born in 1943 or later, those credits generally equal 8% of the full retirement benefit for each full year of delay.

That 8% is part of the Social Security benefit formula. It is not an investment return, and delaying is not automatically the right decision.

The basic tradeoff is straightforward:

Claim earlier and receive more checks, but a smaller monthly amount.

Claim later and receive fewer checks, but a larger monthly amount for the rest of your life.

What is not straightforward is deciding which tradeoff is better for you.

Why “always wait until 70” is not a retirement plan

There is a growing chorus telling retirees to delay Social Security until age 70. In many cases, waiting can be an excellent decision—especially for a healthy higher-earning spouse in a married couple.

But “always wait” is still a slogan, not a plan.

Waiting may be less attractive if you need the income, have significant health concerns, expect a shorter life span, are single with no survivor to protect, or would have to take uncomfortable portfolio risk to fund the years before benefits begin.

It may also be entirely reasonable to claim earlier because the income allows you to travel, help family or enjoy the early years of retirement while you are healthy enough to do so.

A retirement plan should not make you unnecessarily afraid to spend your own money.

At the same time, claiming at 62 simply because you are eligible—or because you do not want to withdraw anything from your portfolio—can also be shortsighted. A larger benefit later may provide valuable lifetime income, reduce the portfolio’s future burden and better protect a surviving spouse.

There is no universal rule because there is no universal retirement.

Seven questions that can change the answer

1. Do you need the income now?

For some families, Social Security is needed to cover essential expenses. Claiming earlier may reduce pressure on savings and make the transition into retirement more comfortable.

Other families have pensions, cash reserves or a portfolio that can comfortably fund the gap. They have the option to delay—but having the option does not automatically mean they should use it.

The question is what purpose the check serves in your plan.

2. Are you still working?

If you claim before full retirement age and continue working, Social Security’s retirement earnings test may temporarily withhold some benefits when wages or self-employment income exceed the annual limit.

Once you reach full retirement age, the earnings limit no longer applies. Benefits withheld under the earnings test are not simply gone; Social Security later recalculates the monthly benefit to account for months in which benefits were withheld.

This is one reason “I am 62, so I should file” may be the wrong starting point for someone who is still earning a substantial income.

3. What is your health and family longevity?

No one knows exactly how long he or she will live, but health and family history still matter.

Someone with serious health concerns may reasonably place more value on receiving benefits sooner. A healthy retiree with a history of longevity may place more value on a larger lifetime benefit later.

This is not about predicting a date of death. It is about recognizing that the same claiming strategy should not automatically be applied to two people with very different circumstances.

4. Are you married—and which spouse earned more?

For a married couple, there are two claiming decisions, not one.

Each spouse has an earnings record. Depending on eligibility and the couple’s circumstances, spousal benefits may also come into play. The two filing ages should be coordinated, because one spouse’s decision can affect the other spouse’s income today and the household’s income later.

In many cases, it may make sense for the lower earner to claim earlier while the higher earner delays. In others, both may claim earlier or both may wait. The right combination depends on cash flow, age differences, health, work, taxes and the survivor plan.

5. What happens to the surviving spouse?

This may be the most overlooked part of the decision.

When one spouse dies, two Social Security checks generally do not continue. An eligible surviving spouse will commonly receive the higher applicable benefit—not both benefits added together.

That means the higher earner’s claiming decision may affect the survivor for the rest of his or her life. Delaying the higher earner’s benefit can increase the benefit that may later be available to an eligible surviving spouse. Claiming the higher benefit early can leave the survivor with a smaller monthly amount.

This does not mean the higher earner must always wait until 70. It means the survivor should be part of the decision from the beginning, not treated as a footnote.

We often ask families a simple question:

If one of you were no longer here, would this claiming strategy still make sense for the person left behind?

6. How will you fund the years before Social Security begins?

Delaying Social Security does not eliminate the need for income. It moves more of that responsibility to another source for a period of time.

That source may be wages, a pension, cash, taxable investments, an IRA, a Roth IRA or some combination of them.

This is where Social Security becomes an investment and retirement-income decision. If markets decline early in retirement, taking larger portfolio withdrawals to delay Social Security may create a different risk than the simple benefit comparison suggests. On the other hand, using a well-planned portion of the portfolio to support a delay may buy a larger stream of inflation-adjusted lifetime income later.

The portfolio should not be viewed as something that must never be touched. It was built to support your life. But withdrawals should be planned with an understanding of taxes, market risk and what the remaining assets must accomplish.

7. Could delaying create a useful opportunity to evaluate tax considerations?

This is where the answer can become very different for affluent retirees.

The years after retirement but before Social Security and required minimum distributions begin may provide an opportunity to realize income deliberately—often through withdrawals from tax-deferred accounts or partial Roth conversions.

Delaying Social Security may leave more room in a desired tax bracket for a Roth conversion. Claiming Social Security earlier adds income to the picture and may cause a portion of the benefit to become federally taxable. A conversion can also increase Medicare income-related premiums, so the analysis cannot stop at the federal income-tax bracket.

This does not mean everyone should delay Social Security and convert an IRA to a Roth. A Roth conversion creates taxable income today in exchange for potentially different tax treatment later. Whether it helps depends on future tax rates, account sizes, spending, charitable plans, estate goals, Medicare premiums and the surviving spouse’s likely tax situation.

Social Security, Roth conversions, required distributions and Medicare should be modeled together—not handled as four unrelated decisions.

Social Security may be federally taxable—even in Florida

Florida does not impose an individual state income tax, so it does not tax Social Security benefits as personal income.

Federal tax is different.

Depending on filing status and what the IRS calls combined income, up to 85% of Social Security benefits may be included in taxable income. That does not mean Social Security is taxed at an 85% rate. It means up to 85% of the benefit may become subject to your applicable federal income-tax rate.

Pension income, interest, dividends, capital gains, IRA withdrawals and Roth conversions can all affect the calculation. Municipal-bond interest, although generally exempt from federal income tax, is also included when determining whether Social Security benefits are taxable.

For many affluent retirees, the tax question is not simply, “Will my Social Security be taxed?” It is, “How does the timing of Social Security interact with the rest of my lifetime tax plan?”

Why the break-even age does not settle the decision

A break-even calculation asks how long you would need to live before the larger benefit from delaying catches up with the benefits you passed up earlier.

That can be a useful starting point. It is not the answer.

A basic break-even calculation may leave out:

Taxes on Social Security and portfolio withdrawals

Investment gains or losses during the delay period

The value of Roth conversions completed before benefits begin

Medicare income-related premiums

The effect on a surviving spouse

The personal value of having income earlier rather than later

Most importantly, it treats retirement like a contest to maximize lifetime Social Security dollars under one assumed life span.

Retirement is not lived in a spreadsheet.

Money available at 63, when you are healthy and eager to travel, may feel more valuable than the same inflation-adjusted dollar at 83. But dependable income at 83 may be far more important if one spouse is living alone and the portfolio has endured several difficult markets.

A good plan respects both truths.

Sometimes claiming earlier is the right answer

Claiming before full retirement age may be reasonable when:

You need the income to support your retirement spending

Your health or expected longevity favors receiving benefits sooner

You are no longer working and the earnings test is not a concern

You are the lower-earning spouse and the higher earner is delaying

Claiming reduces withdrawals from a portfolio that is under stress

The income meaningfully improves your life during your active retirement years

The important word is may. None of these facts should make the decision by itself.

Sometimes waiting is the right answer

Waiting until full retirement age or age 70 may be reasonable when:

You are healthy and longevity runs in your family

You can fund the delay without jeopardizing the rest of the plan

You are the higher earner and want to strengthen the potential survivor benefit

You are still working and do not need the income

Delaying creates room for deliberate IRA withdrawals or Roth conversions

You value a larger stream of dependable lifetime income later

Again, no single item decides the question.

The best Social Security strategy begins with your best retirement life

We have helped hundreds of families work through the Social Security decision. Some claimed early. Some waited until 70. Many couples used different ages for each spouse.

The successful plans did not all choose the same birthday.

What they had in common was coordination.

The claiming decision was connected to the family’s desired lifestyle, spending, other income, investments, taxes, health and survivor needs. Then, as life changed, we adjusted the rest of the plan around it.

Some changes are within our control: how much we spend, how we invest, when we retire and how we draw from our accounts. Others are not: markets, tax laws, health, inflation and longevity.

A thoughtful retirement plan prepares for both.

The goal is not to win Social Security. The goal is to use Social Security—along with everything else you have built—to help you and your family live well, worry less and make the most of the years ahead.

How Edwards Asset Management can help

We do not begin with a predetermined claiming age.

We begin with the life you want your assets and income to support. Then we compare claiming ages in the context of:

Your projected retirement spending

Both spouses’ Social Security estimates

Pension and other dependable income

Portfolio withdrawals and market risk

Federal taxes and potential Roth conversions

Required minimum distributions

Medicare income-related premiums

The income available to a surviving spouse

Our CFP® retirement-planning specialists use advanced financial-planning technology to bring these moving parts together. They can compare multiple Social Security claiming ages and model different assumptions for spending, longevity, inflation, investment returns, taxes, Roth conversions, required distributions, Medicare premiums and survivor income. The software does not predict the future, but it can help families see the tradeoffs, test the plan under different conditions and make more informed decisions.

Just as important, the plan is not completed once and placed on a shelf. We help maintain and update it as the things you can control—such as spending, retirement timing and account withdrawals—and the things you cannot control—such as markets, inflation, tax considerations, health and longevity—change over time. That ongoing process gives you a better opportunity to respond thoughtfully instead of allowing one unexpected change to make the decision for you.

Our investment-management team can then coordinate the portfolio with the plan. When appropriate and consistent with your investment objectives, the team can manage cash reserves and distributions and use tax-aware techniques—such as the timing of withdrawals and the realization of investment gains or losses—to help move taxable income in the

desired direction. Sometimes smart planning calls for realizing more income intentionally; at other times, it may call for seeking to reduce or defer it. We coordinate with your tax professional while maintaining the liquidity and planned distributions needed for daily living and larger annual expenses.

The goal is to take a holistic view of your financial situation by considering income, investment strategies, tax considerations, and lifestyle objectives so they are all working together towards your financial goals.

Bring both estimates. We will walk claim ages against the rest of your plan.

That conversation is not about finding a magic birthday. It is about making a thoughtful decision that supports the retirement you worked hard to create.

To request a complimentary consultation about retirement-income planning, contact Edwards Asset Management.

Edwards Asset Management

Naples, Florida · Fort Lauderdale, Florida · Albany, New York

239-264-1000

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