Money tools
When should I start Social Security?
Starting Social Security at 62 pays a smaller benefit for longer; waiting to 70 pays a larger one for less time. See the monthly amount at every age, the age at which waiting catches up, and what each choice pays by the age you plan to.
Your benefit
From your Social Security Statement at ssa.gov.
Sets your full retirement age. Born on 1 January? Use the year before.
How long to plan for
No built-in assumption: pick an age, or see SSA's life expectancy calculator, and try a later one too.
Above inflation, since the amounts are in today's dollars. Shows how the break-evens move.
All amounts are in today's dollars. Benefits get a cost-of-living adjustment each year, which keeps them roughly level in real terms.
Enter your benefit at full retirement age and your birth year.
What this page does not calculate
Working while you claim. Claim before full retirement age while still working, and SSA withholds $1 for every $2 you earn above $24,480 in 2026 ($25,560 in 2027); in the year you reach full retirement age, $1 for every $3 above $65,160 ($67,920 in 2027), counting only the months before it. Withheld benefits are not lost: SSA raises your benefit at full retirement age to make up for them. See Receiving Benefits While Working.
A surviving spouse. If you are married and the higher earner, delaying also raises what your spouse may receive as a survivor if you die first, so the choice covers two lifetimes, not one.
Spousal benefits depend on both of your records and ages. SSA explains them under Family benefits.
Tax. Part of your benefits can be taxable once half your benefits plus your other income pass $25,000 ($32,000 married filing jointly): up to 50%, or up to 85% above $34,000 ($44,000 jointly). See IRS Publication 915.
Claiming between 62 and 70 is your choice; SSA says there is no single best age. To see how a later claim changes what your savings must carry until then, use the retirement calculator.
All four happen in your browser. Your figures are not sent anywhere — the email opens in your own mail app, already filled in.