We estimate your monthly Social Security benefit at different claiming ages by adjusting your full-retirement-age benefit (PIA) up or down using the Social Security Administration's published reduction and delayed-credit rules. For the full picture — a spouse, the survivor benefit, working while claiming, and lifetime totals — your advisor's Social Security Analyzer runs the complete month-by-month analysis.

Step by step

1. Claiming before full retirement age (FRA) reduces the benefit; claiming after FRA (up to age 70) increases it with delayed-retirement credits.
2. We compute the benefit at each age from 62 to 70 and highlight the age that maximizes the monthly amount.
3. This is a single-person estimate in today's dollars; it does not model a spouse, survivor benefits, the earnings test or cost-of-living adjustments.

The math

Early reduction: 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months early, then 5/12 of 1% per month beyond. Delayed credit: 2/3 of 1% per month (8%/year) after FRA up to age 70. (Per SSA rules.)

Sources & assumptions

• U.S. Social Security Administration benefit reduction and delayed-retirement-credit rules (public domain).

Note: Nothing: the SSA adjustment rules applied here are public.

1. This is an educational estimate of Social Security benefits, not an official SSA determination.
2. Actual benefits depend on your full earnings record. Speak with your advisor and review your SSA statement.