Inbox Questions | Should Early Social Security Factor Into Retirement Calculations?
Big Picture Retirement®
Devin Carroll
4.7 • 546 Ratings
🗓️ 30 January 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, we address Joe's question about how claiming Social Security benefits early can reduce withdrawals from retirement accounts and potentially lead to greater long-term growth.
Joe shares his calculation comparing the cumulative Social Security benefit difference with the investment growth of withdrawals saved by filing early. Is he onto something, or is there a missing piece? Tune in to explore how Social Security timing fits into a Big Picture retirement strategy and hear our take on Joe's approach.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Big Picture Retirement Show. |
| 0:07.7 | Today, we're going to the inbox to answer questions sent in by you, our listeners. |
| 0:12.7 | Now, if you'd like to send us a question, just head over to big pictureretirement.com and click |
| 0:17.3 | the Ask a Question tab in the top menu. |
| 0:19.8 | Oh, and just a quick reminder. |
| 0:21.2 | On this podcast, we provide general information |
| 0:24.3 | and not specific tax, legal, or financial advice. |
| 0:28.0 | But if you're ever ready to move |
| 0:29.6 | from the broad education we provide here |
| 0:31.9 | to personalized advice that's specific to you, |
| 0:35.6 | you can find links to our websites down in the description. |
| 0:39.2 | Now, let's jump in to today's question. |
| 0:45.7 | John, today's question comes from Joe. |
| 0:47.9 | Now, Joe addressed this to me. |
| 0:49.6 | Yeah. |
| 0:50.2 | But he also put a note in at the bottom for you. |
| 0:52.1 | I'll get to that in a second. |
| 0:53.6 | So Joe said, Devin, I was using your excellent break-even Social Security calculator and noticed something I was hoping you could comment on. |
| 1:00.4 | By claiming earlier than for retirement age, that is less money, one would have to withdraw from their retirement in brokerage accounts. |
| 1:07.3 | Shouldn't that be calculated into a big picture retirement calculation? Oh, I like the way he said |
| 1:12.5 | that. It's like a trademark. With capitals. Yes. Big picture. Yes. He goes on to say, for example, |
| 1:20.6 | my benefits at age 65 would be $3,379 a month, but would increase to $3,898 if I waited until full retirement age. |
... |
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