A worked example

Claim Social Security at 62, or wait for 70?

Ruth and Alan, both 61, retired with $1,000,000 pre-tax, $100,000 in Roth accounts, and a $500,000 brokerage account, spending $90,000 a year. Their SSA statements put their combined benefit at $28,000 a year claimed at 62, or $49,600 waiting until 70.

“What if we claim at 62 and take the $28,000, versus holding out for the $49,600 at 70?”

What the projection shows

The same retirement run twice. Claiming early starts the checks now but fills every later bracket sooner. Waiting leaves eight years where taxable income is unusually low, which is the window Roth conversions fit in, followed by a larger, inflation-adjusted check that raises the income floor in every RMD year. The compare view shows what the SSA statement can't: how much of each benefit is actually taxed (that depends on the other income beside it), what each path does to lifetime tax and after-tax wealth, and how the answer shifts depending on the horizon you choose. The engine never calculates a benefit from a claiming age. It works from the figures you enter.