Five Questions to Answer Before You Claim Social Security

Claiming is a decision, not a deadline

Most people think Social Security simply starts when work stops. In practice it's a choice with several moving parts, and it's hard to undo. The age you claim changes the monthly amount for the rest of your life, and in a married household it can change what the surviving spouse receives too. Your own statement from the Social Security Administration shows the figures for your record. What it can't show you is how those figures fit with everything else you own, owe and plan to spend.

Bruno Pouliot's retirement planning process treats Social Security as one piece of a larger income plan. His practice describes the goal as coordinating Social Security with your overall income plan, instead of deciding it in isolation. These are the questions worth answering before you file anything.

Question one: what do you need each month?

Before you look at claiming ages, write down what your life actually costs. Not a rule of thumb, your real spending: the mortgage or rent, utilities, groceries, insurance premiums, the truck payment, gifts to the grandchildren, the giving to your church or favorite charity that you intend to keep up. Then split the list into what must be paid no matter what and what you'd trim in a hard year.

Social Security tends to work best when it covers a healthy share of the must-pay list. It arrives every month and is designed to keep pace with rising prices over time, which makes it a different kind of income from a savings account that moves with the markets.

Question two: what else is paying, and when does it start?

Pensions, savings, annuities, part-time work and rental income all have their own timing. A teacher or state employee may have a pension that begins on a set date. Someone still working part time may not need Social Security yet. Lay these on a simple timeline and you'll see the gap years, the stretch where you need money but a particular source hasn't started.

That gap is where the claiming decision gets real. You can fill it from savings, fill it by claiming sooner, or fill it with work. Each choice has a cost, and the cost shows up somewhere else in the plan. Federal and state government employees should also have their pension and Social Security record looked at together, because the way the two interact can differ from what a private-sector worker would expect.

Question three: what happens if one of you passes first?

This is the question couples most often skip. When one spouse passes, the household typically ends up with one benefit instead of two, and the surviving spouse's income can drop. Which benefit continues, and how your claiming choices affect it, deserves a direct answer before you commit. It's the reason Bruno looks at spousal and survivor options together rather than treating each spouse as a separate case.

If you're the higher earner, your claiming choice may matter most to the person who outlives you. That's a very different way to look at the decision.

Question four: how long might you need this income?

Nobody knows how long they'll live, so a good plan has to work for a long retirement and a short one. Current health, family history and whether you still enjoy your work all belong in the conversation. A person with good reasons to expect a long life may weigh a larger monthly check differently from someone with health concerns who needs money sooner. Neither answer is wrong. The point is that it's an informed answer instead of a guess.

Question five: how does this touch taxes and health costs?

Claiming changes your income picture, and your income picture can affect your taxes and some health care costs. Bruno's practice is clear that it doesn't offer tax advice or legal advice, so those questions go to the CPAs and attorneys he works with. What he does is bring them into the conversation so the numbers are checked by someone who can speak to your actual return.

Health care belongs in the plan too. Medicare, supplements and estimated health costs are one of the topics in his retirement planning series, because rising expenses can quietly undo an income plan that looked fine on paper.

Bring these to the table

• What does my own statement show for each claiming age I'm considering?
• What would my spouse receive on their own record, and what would they receive as my spouse?
• If one of us passes first, what does the survivor receive, and does that change with when we claim?
• Which other income sources cover the early years, and how long will they last?
• How do my health, family history and work plans change the answer?

A calmer way to decide

Once you've worked through these, the decision usually feels quieter. You can see what you need, what's already covered, where the gap sits and what each claiming age does to your household, survivor included. Bruno's approach is education first. His practice says plainly that it doesn't believe in selling you anything, nor you buying anything. The conversation is there so you understand your options well enough to choose for yourself.

If you're close to the claiming decision, or you already have a plan and want a second opinion, Bruno consults by phone or Zoom, by appointment. A good first step is the Free Financial Health Review through the 3 Minute Money Plan. Or call him at (423) 326-5299 and talk it through.