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I’m a long-time lurker/reader and a first-time forum poster. I wanted to share something interesting that I recently discovered with Mike Piper’s very helpful Open Social Security (OSS) tool that seems worth sharing.
As discussed numerous times in Humble Dollar articles and posts, the typical optimal timing for a couple filing for Social Security is to have the higher earning spouse wait until 70 and the lower earning spouse to file at 62. While there are definitely exceptions to this, I found one that I thought was interesting. The OSS tool allows you to use different mortality tables. When using the base mortality table, my wife and I got the “standard” advice of the higher earning spouse waiting until 70 and the lower earning spouse starting at 62. However, when I used the “Non-Smoker Super Preferred” mortality table (the one with the longest lifespans), it recommended that the lower earning spouse wait until age 65 and 3 months with the higher earning spouse still at 70, which surprised me. Intuitively it does seem to make sense that a longer lifespan favors some amount of delay to increase the monthly benefit payout for that extra time.
For us, this is an informative outcome since we are fortunate to be in pretty good health and we were planning to keep making Roth conversions for a few more years. Not starting Social Security right now (my wife and I are turning 62 this year) will give us a bit more income headroom for these conversions.
Hopefully this is informative for anyone who might be using the OSS tool, is comfortable looking at some different mortality scenarios, and is feeling healthy (or lucky!) with their lifespan forecasts.
Mike’s tool is great and has helped numerous folks (as have his relatively short and simple books on Investing, Social Security and others including More than Enough which I am currently reading and finding helpful). There is a ton of research and background data supporting the tool in the design and behind the curtain-he spent a couple of years working on it. There are lots of ways to customize and play around with the results. My wife and I came to a similar conclusion. And, we decided to claim at similar times, with myself at 70 and she at 67 which is in a couple of years.
Like John, this is my first time posting. While I rarely comment anywhere online, the opportunity to ask such an experienced and learned group of individuals has compelled me to come out of hiding momentarily to ask for your thoughts and opinions.
With the passing of the Social Security Fairness Act, my husband will now be eligible (it seems) to receive a spousal benefit based on my earnings, but only if I begin to receive SS myself. Prior to the SSFA passing, we have steadfastly planned to delay my SS until age 70. My husband is 71 and I am 64. We currently draw less than 1% from our investments as travel money, the rest of our income is comprised mainly from my husband’s government pension.
I became aware of the OSS tool through HD and have run multiple scenarios using the mortality tables provided. I used the poorest for my husband as a former smoker and current cancer survivor and the healthiest/longest lifespan for myself. In most cases, OSS recommends that we start taking my benefit and the spouse benefit now, even when I force myself to use a relatively short term for my husband. It changes to recommending waiting until age 70 only when I enter an “end date” for myself of age 90 and above.
If my husband passes before me, my investments, social security and a tiny pension will be the source of my income. When I also run various scenarios through the retirement projection model in Fidelity using those sources, the results show that even under the worst market conditions, I should still have funds at the end of my life, (assuming that the worst market conditions are not coupled with the need for a skilled nursing facility).
We admit to being very tempted to pull the trigger on SS and begin receiving benefits now, but are we missing something? Perhaps I’ll really need the higher monthly payment at 70 if I’m on my own?
I sure could use a crystal ball right about now.
Hi Jan,
The passage of the SSFA appears to upend your planning on when you will claim your SS benefit and also allow a spousal benefit for your husband.
I noted an extended article dated 1/15/2025 on the Kitces website that may have information that could be useful to you.
https://www.kitces.com/blog/social-security-fairness-act-windfall-elimination-provision-government-pension-offset-spousal-benefits-government-pension-wep-gpo-repeal-retirement-latest-industry-news/
My thinking is that as it will take the Social Security Administration months at a minimum to put the SSFA provisions into effect and also the proposed changing the taxation of SS benefits are factors that you may want to consider in your decision to continue delaying your SS claiming or claiming now. You may want to wait to claim until you have better information available.
I do not see in your comment if you are still working. As you are under your FRA your current SS benefit could be limited by your earned income until you reach your FRA which also could be an key item in your claiming decision.
I waited until age 70 to claim my SS benefit based on my earning record but my wife is almost four years younger than me so our spousal situation was very different than yours. For me, waiting to claim during the time period from my FRA to age 70 was top of my mind for those four years. I am happy with my decision to wait to claim but like you I sure could have used a crystal ball.
I hope my thoughts help. Best, Bill