Why Waiting Until 70 for Social Security Can Backfire (And the Question to Ask Instead)
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Summary
The math behind "wait until 70" for Social Security is real.
Hold off claiming from 62 to 70 and your monthly benefit climbs by roughly 77%.
So why would anyone walk away from a number that big?
The short answer is that the standard break-even analysis only measures one variable.
And for retirees with healthy pre-tax savings, there are other factors at play that can make "waiting" a more expensive decision than it looks.
In this episode, I'm turning the mic over to Josh Rendler — a partner at our firm — who walks through a case study of a 62-year-old woman with a $1.5 million IRA and the question most retirees are wrestling with.
Here's what you'll learn:
→ The reframe that makes "wait until 70" fall apart for retirees with healthy pre-tax balances
→ How Social Security timing and Roth conversions compete for the same bracket space (and why claiming earlier can actually EXPAND your conversion runway)
→ The planning window that opens at 61, and what gets harder to fix once it closes
The biggest claiming-age check isn't always the biggest after-tax outcome.
And a well-built plan shouldn't make you choose between doing the math right and actually enjoying the retirement you spent 35 years earning.
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