Social Security Maximizer

When should you turn on Social Security: 62, your full retirement age, or 70? The honest answer for most healthy affluent retirees is later than they want to hear, and this tool shows you the size of the bet. It turns “later is better” into an actual dollar figure for your situation.

The decision it solves

Social Security is the only retirement income that’s inflation-adjusted, guaranteed, and lasts as long as you do. For 2026 the cost-of-living adjustment is 2.8%, and the program raises your benefit every year you wait between 62 and 70. Claim before your full retirement age, which is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, and your monthly check shrinks permanently. Wait past it and the check grows, up to age 70, where the increases stop.

The reduction for claiming early and the credit for waiting are set by formula. The tool applies the current percentages to your own benefit so you can see the tradeoff in dollars, not slogans.

How the math works

Start with your benefit at full retirement age, the number on your Social Security statement. For 2026 the maximum benefit for someone claiming at FRA is $4,152 a month. Claim at 62 and you lock in a smaller monthly amount for life. Wait until 70 and you lock in a larger one.

This isn’t really a bet on returns. It’s a bet on longevity. Claiming early wins if you die early. Waiting wins if you live long, and it wins bigger the longer you live, because the larger check keeps compounding with every COLA. The maximizer runs your benefit across claiming ages, layers on the 2.8% adjustment, and finds the break-even age where waiting pulls ahead. For most people that crossover lands in their late 70s or early 80s.

A worked example

Take a single retiree whose full retirement age is 67 and whose benefit there is $4,000 a month. Three doors.

Claim at 62 and the check is reduced to roughly $2,800 a month. Money now, less of it forever. Claim at 67 and collect the full $4,000. Wait until 70 and the delayed credits push it to about $4,960, a 24% raise over the FRA amount, guaranteed and inflation-protected for the rest of their life.

The gap between claiming at 62 and waiting to 70 is over $2,000 a month, every month, indexed to inflation. If this retiree lives to 90, waiting is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. If they’re in poor health and expect a short retirement, claiming early is the right call. The tool’s job is to tell you which retiree you are.

The part most people miss

If you claim before full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test claws back $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn over $24,480 in 2026. So claiming early while still drawing a paycheck can mean giving back much of the check you just turned on. There’s a second-order effect too: a larger benefit from waiting also means a larger survivor benefit for a spouse, which can matter more than your own longevity. For couples, the higher earner’s claiming age sets the floor under the survivor for life. See Social Security at 62 vs. 70 and how delayed retirement credits compound.

If your income is high

Affluent retirees often have the luxury of waiting, because they can spend from a portfolio in their 60s instead. That’s exactly why waiting tends to pay: you’re using money you’d spend anyway to buy the cheapest inflation-protected longevity insurance on the market. Be aware the larger benefit also raises how much of it gets taxed, a wrinkle covered in Social Security taxation tips.

Decide on longevity, not impatience. The check you turn on at 70 is the one that protects you at 95.