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Your Money Guide on the Side

When Should I Take Social Security? | Taylor Sohns

Your Money Guide on the Side

Tyler Gardner

Business, Education, Entrepreneurship, Investing, How To

4.92.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In case you missed it, check out last week's episode of Your Money Guide on the Side answered the question: How do I Make ChatGPT My New Financial Advisor? How secure is your future benefit and what should you actually do about it? Taylor Sohns is a Certified Financial Planner™ and co-founder of Life Goal Wealth Advisors. Before starting his own firm, Taylor spent over a decade inside some of Wall Street’s biggest investment shops — the ones that build the ETFs, mutual funds, and hedge funds you’ve probably been pitched. Now he works on the other side of the table, helping everyday investors align their portfolios with their real-world goals. 📚 What We Discuss with Taylor Sohns: 🧮 02:30 — “Coming back to the math” — social security basics 📊 05:20 — The cumulative payout — monthly benefit vs. break-even point ❤️ 08:15 — Spousal benefits — why your timing affects more than just you 📉 11:50 — Social security cuts — what to consider beyond just “take it early” 💼 15:55 — Working after you start social security — common myths 📅 18:00 — Who should wait, who shouldn’t — the role of base rates and earning history 🧠 22:20 — Investment management = behavior management — risk, emotion, and real-life planning 🎯 26:15 — How risk tolerance is actually measured — and how firms get it wrong 📺 29:00 — Reactive news and robust markets — longterm vision ⚖️ 33:30 — Passive vs. active investing — ETFs, experience and exposure. 🔀 37:00 — Is there a middle ground? When active management makes sense 💡 What You’ll Walk Away With How to assess your own social security timing with math — not fear What to know about spousal and survivor benefits before you make a move How potential cuts to the system could affect your plan (and what not to panic about) What it really means to “work while claiming” — and who that works for Why risk tolerance isn’t just a form — and how to think about your own appetite for volatility A clearer understanding of the real debate between passive and active investing 🧾 Resources Mentioned Life Goal Wealth Advisors → www.lifegoalinvestments.com Taylor on Instagram → @lifegoalinvestments Social Security calculator → www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/estimator.html CFP Board → www.letsmakeaplan.org If you're still game to support the show, leaving a quick review really helps — even one sentence goes a long way! You can also join thousands of other investing-minded folks by subscribing to the newsletter:https://socialcapconnect.substack.com/ Check out episode 26 with Tess Waresmith — a financial educator who shares the costly investing mistakes she made in her 20s, how to vet financial advisors, and why your ignorance is often someone else’s profit.

Transcript

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0:00.0

The political party doesn't matter.

0:02.4

The American economy is so innovative.

0:05.3

It is an organism that change and mutates and adapts to any set of rules that you put in front of them.

0:11.6

Companies weather the storm over time.

0:13.5

Don't let your political opinion and political biases as to the agenda of one party versus the next dictate the way you invest.

0:22.9

Hello, friends. This is Tyler Gardner, welcoming you to another episode of your money

0:27.5

guide on the side, where it is my job to simplify what seems complex, add nuance to what seems

0:33.3

simple, and learn from and alongside some of the brightest minds in money, finance, and investing.

0:39.6

So let's get started and get you one step closer to where you need to be.

0:44.9

My guest today is Taylor Sons, a CFP and proud owner of more financial credentials than most

0:53.1

people have kitchen gadgets. Taylor spent over a decade

0:56.9

on Wall Street working at some of the biggest investment firms, you know, the ones that build the

1:02.9

ETFs, mutual funds, and hedge funds, we all pretend to fully understand. These days, he's the co-founder and CEO of Life Goal Wealth Advisors, an independent financial

1:16.5

advisory firm that helps real people build lives aligned with their values.

1:22.2

That background, 12 years inside the machine now operating outside of it, makes him uniquely qualified to talk

1:30.1

about the good, the bad, and the occasionally cringeworthy side of the financial advisory business.

1:36.7

And that is the primary reason I wanted to bring Taylor on the show in the first place.

1:42.2

He is incredibly, refreshingly, and wonderfully honest about what you can and should expect

1:49.9

from the world of financial advising and asset management.

1:54.1

I am thrilled to offer you a wide-ranging and thought-provoking conversation with Taylor Sons.

2:02.5

I think that one of the things that drew me primarily to wanting to have this conversation

2:07.1

with you is that out of all the advisors and investment managers and portfolio managers that I know,

...

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