Tool Demo: Planning your Social Security Claiming



Good afternoon and welcome to our webinar on Planning Your Social Security Claiming age. Today we will demonstrate CFPB's retirement tool. Please note that the presentation is being made by a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau representative on behalf of the Bureau. It does not constitute legal interpretation, guidance, or advice of the CFPB. Any opinions or views stated by the presenter are the presenter’s own and may not represent the Bureau's views. 

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we provide consumers with tools and resources to help them make informed financial decisions for themselves and their families, this includes their later years. 

Every year more than 2 million consumers make the important decision to begin collecting their Social Security benefits. At some point, you are likely to be among them. Deciding when to start claiming Social Security payments is critical because it affects how much you will receive in monthly benefits. Social Security probably will be a significant part of your retirement income. It is also likely to be your only retirement benefit that is protected from inflation and provided in the form of the lifetime monthly payout. Despite how important Social Security benefits are, many people claim them with limited or incorrect information.

“Before you claim: planning your Social Security claiming age” is an online tool to help you plan for the age at which you may want to claim Social Security benefits. And the tool can help you understand the choices you make and how they affect your decision to claim at a certain age, including your marital status, how long you plan to work, your likely expenses in retirement, and other expected sources of income and your life expectancy. The tool is based on research on how to make the best choices on claiming Social Security. It is approachable and it is easy to use. 


The first thing you will do is to enter your birthday and your annual income that you earn from work. Let's use a hypothetical consumer, Jane. Jane was born on June 15th, 1970. Her highest annual income from work is $40,000. Rest assured, the information you enter is anonymous because we do not access your earnings record. The estimates that we provide may be different than those shown in your Social Security statement. 

After she enters her information, Jane sees this interactive graph, based on her date of birth and income. Her full retirement age is 67 and her estimated monthly benefit is about $1500. 

We can scroll left and right along the graph to see what her options are and how her benefit increases and decreases based on when she decides to claim. If we slide her claiming age to the earliest possible option of 62, her monthly benefits may be $1100 and her lifetime benefit by age 85 could total almost $292,000. 

But if Jane slides her claiming age up to the maximum of age 70, her monthly benefits can be close to $1900 or $336,000 by age 85. 

We know that for many people, the decision about when to begin claiming Social Security is more than the numbers. In step two we provide more information on other things to consider. Each one of the questions here allow someone like Jane to reflect on her own situation. 

Whether she is currently married or married for at least 10 years. If Jane’s spouse or former spouse dies and they were married for at least 10 years, she can receive either her own benefit or a survivor benefit, whichever is the highest. 

Jane plans on working into her 60s, this could affect her Social Security benefit if she claims while she is working. There are specific rules around claiming and collecting benefits. 

As Jane answers these questions, she will receive information based on her situation. She can read about these topics in greater detail or get a summary. 

Most people who retire will not see their expenses go down, even though you probably are not commuting to work, you may be spending money in other ways, including on medical expenses or travel to see family. Jane is not sure if her expenses will decrease in retirement. 

Many of us, including Jane, save for retirement in other ways. Jane chooses that she has savings going into retirement. 

Jane is in good health and she thinks she will live a long life. While nothing is certain, many people live longer than they think they will. It is important to make sure to have the highest possible benefit for your later years for your surviving spouse. 

We know that many people have a goal for when they would like to retire or stop working full-time. Now that Jane has seen the graph in step one and read about the factors related to her situation in step two, this final step encourages her to think again about the age at which she may begin claiming. 

If you have not already, opened a my Social Security account at SSA.gov, the Social Security administration website, we invite you to do so. The my Social Security account will help you access your Social Security earnings record. Remember, that if your circumstances change, like you lose your job or marital status changes, you may need to rethink when you claim your Social Security benefits. Finally, this tool is also available in Spanish.

Also, you do not need a computer, you can access this tool on any smartphone or tablet.

As you have seen today, we are helping people avoid surprises and make the most of what they have. To learn more, visit our website, consumerfinance.gov/olderamericans. Thank so much for joining us for today's webinar, demonstrating the many benefits of our Social Security claiming tool and we look forward to seeing you on the future webinar. Thank you.