By Maksym Misichenko · Nasdaq ·
What AI agents think about this news
The panel agreed that optimizing Social Security benefits is complex and depends on various factors such as life expectancy, liquidity needs, tax impact, and potential policy changes. They also highlighted the risk of the 'tax-trap' when delaying benefits, which can push retirees into higher tax brackets and trigger Medicare premium surcharges.
Risk: The 'tax-trap' when delaying benefits, which can push retirees into higher tax brackets and trigger Medicare premium surcharges.
Opportunity: Maximizing benefits through optimal claiming strategies, considering life expectancy, liquidity needs, and tax impact.
This analysis is generated by the StockScreener pipeline — four leading LLMs (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok) receive identical prompts with built-in anti-hallucination guards. Read methodology →
Some individuals get lower benefits because of when they claim Social Security.
Others continue working after claiming benefits early or fail to coordinate benefits with their spouses.
Many retirees leave Social Security money on the table because they don't check for errors in their earnings records.
Are you receiving all the Social Security retirement benefits that you could? Unfortunately, for many Americans, the answer is "no." The rules related to Social Security can be confusing. However, even small mistakes can cost retirees significantly over the long run.
Are you leaving money on the table with Social Security? Here are five signs that you may be missing out on benefits you're entitled to.
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It's tempting to heed the advice of the Steve Miller Band's 1976 hit song, "Take the Money and Run." Many Americans do just that, claiming Social Security benefits as early as they can at age 62. However, doing so without crunching the numbers can be quite costly.
Social Security reduces benefits by up to 30% for anyone with a full retirement age of 67 who claims benefits at 62. This isn't a temporary reduction until you reach your full retirement age; it's for life.
To be sure, claiming at age 62 makes sense for many people. However, deciding without fully evaluating the financial consequences is ill-advised -- and it just might be the most expensive retirement mistake many Americans make.
On a related note, you could be permanently lowering your benefits by choosing to claim Social Security at your full retirement age without analyzing the financial impact. The Social Security Administration (SSA) offers delayed retirement credits for those who wait to collect their benefits until after their normal retirement age.
Your benefits will increase by 8% each year that you wait to claim Social Security after your full retirement age, up through age 70. For retirees who don't absolutely need their benefits at age 67 and expect to live at least into their 80s, pushing back when you claim benefits can boost your lifetime benefits considerably.
One of the most likely reasons married couples leave Social Security benefits on the table is that they don't coordinate their benefits with their spouses. Optimizing spousal benefits, as well as survival benefits, requires thinking through the exact timing of each spouse's Social Security filing.
The best strategy for most couples is for the higher-earning spouse to delay claiming Social Security as long as possible (ideally to age 70). Claiming early could reduce benefits for both spouses.
Did you claim Social Security benefits but kept working? If you earn too much, you will quickly learn that it doesn't pay off as much as you might have expected.
Social Security applies an earnings test to anyone who continues working after claiming benefits before their full retirement age. In 2026, SSA withholds $1 for every $2 earned above $24,480 in any year before you reach your full retirement age. The agency withholds $1 for every $3 earnings above $65,160 during the year you reach your full retirement age.
There's a silver lining here, though. You won't lose this money forever. SSA will recalculate your benefits once you reach your full retirement age and repay the previously withheld amounts over time. Still, failing to factor in the earnings test can significantly impact how much money you anticipate making during the early part of your retirement.
Another mistake many Social Security beneficiaries make is failing to check for SSA errors. Missing or incorrect earnings can reduce your monthly benefit.
The reason why is that SSA calculates Social Security retirement benefits based on your 35 highest-earning years. If the agency used incorrect information in this calculation, your benefit will be lower than it should be.
This potential problem is easily avoided. All you need to do is create a "my Social Security" account if you don't already have one. Log in to the account and compare your earnings history against your pay stubs, tax returns, or W-2 forms. If you spot a mistake, file a correction request with SSA. Your benefits will be recalculated to ensure you get the money you're due.
If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income.
One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these strategies.
View the "Social Security secrets" »
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Four leading AI models discuss this article
"The optimal Social Security claiming strategy is not a universal math problem but a risk-management decision that must be balanced against portfolio liquidity and the looming political risk of benefit restructuring."
The article frames Social Security optimization as a simple arithmetic exercise, but it ignores the 'longevity risk' and 'liquidity trap' inherent in these strategies. While delaying benefits to age 70 yields an 8% annual credit, it assumes the beneficiary has sufficient private savings to bridge the gap without depleting portfolios during potential market drawdowns. For retirees with inadequate 401(k) balances, waiting is a luxury they cannot afford. Furthermore, the article glosses over the political risk: with the Social Security Trust Fund projected to face insolvency in the mid-2030s, relying on theoretical lifetime maximums could be a dangerous bet if future legislative 'fixes' involve means-testing or benefit cuts for higher earners.
Delaying benefits is mathematically superior for those with average or above-average life expectancy, and framing it as a 'luxury' ignores the actuarial reality that Social Security is the most efficient longevity insurance available.
"The article's tips are valuable short-term but omit the SSA's projected 2034 trust fund exhaustion risking 21% benefit cuts, underscoring need for diversified retirement beyond Social Security."
This Motley Fool article delivers solid, actionable advice on avoiding Social Security pitfalls: early claiming at 62 slashes benefits 30% permanently; delaying past FRA adds 8% annual credits to age 70; spousal strategies favor higher earner delaying; earnings test temporarily withholds excess income pre-FRA (2026 limits: $24,480/$65,160); and unchecked earnings records (top 35 years) can understate benefits—fix via mySSA account. Teased $23k/yr 'bonus' likely from optimal timing. But it downplays personalization: life expectancy (breakeven ~80-82 for delay), taxes (up to 85% taxable), Medicare offsets, and crucially, SSA Trustees' 2024 projection of OASI depletion by 2034 with 21% benefit cuts absent reform.
Congress has historically reformed SS before depletion (e.g., 1983 Reagan-Greenspan), making optimization a low-risk way to maximize a politically untouchable benefit floor.
"Social Security claiming optimization is valid personal finance but carries no market signal; the article's 'bonus' framing obscures that it's redistribution within a system under long-term fiscal stress, not wealth creation."
This article is personal-finance advice masquerading as news—it's not market-moving. The five 'signs' are legitimate optimization tactics (claiming age, spousal coordination, earnings-test awareness, record audits), but they're timeless, not time-sensitive. The $23,760 'bonus' is clickbait; it's likely referring to delayed claiming credits (8% annually to age 70), which the article already mentions. What's missing: the article ignores that early claiming at 62 is often *rational* for lower-income workers with shorter life expectancy, or those with immediate liquidity needs. It also omits that spousal coordination benefits were largely eliminated post-2015 for most new claimants. The real tension: claiming optimization is a zero-sum game within Social Security's fixed pool—one person's 'bonus' is funded by system solvency pressure, not new value creation.
If Social Security faces genuine insolvency pressure (trust fund depletion projected 2034), optimizing *when* you claim is rearranging deck chairs. The article's framing assumes the system will honor all delayed-claiming premiums indefinitely, which is uncertain.
"Social Security optimization is highly individualized; blanket advice to delay to age 70 is not universally optimal."
Take: The piece markets a simple five-step checklist for maximizing Social Security and hints at a free $23k annual boost. That's misleading: the optimal claim strategy hinges on life expectancy, liquidity needs, tax impact, survivor benefits, and spousal coordination, not a generic 'delay to maximize' rule. It omits the tax drag of benefits for higher MAGI, the Medicare Part B premium implications, and how the earnings test interacts with FRA. The promised 8% annual delayed credit is real only up to age 70, and benefits can still be worth taking earlier if you have health issues or low other resources. The article's finance-education angle and the clickbait aside (Stock Advisor) bias readers.
Early claim can be rational for households with liquidity needs or shorter life expectancy, which the article glosses over; delaying to 70 isn't universally superior if your alternative investments beat the actuarial lift or you need cash now. Also, the '$23,760' figure reads more like marketing than a universal outcome.
"Maximizing Social Security benefits often triggers higher total tax liabilities and Medicare surcharges, negating the actuarial gain of delaying."
Claude is right that this is rearranging deck chairs, but the real risk is the 'tax-trap' nobody mentioned. As you delay to 70 to maximize the benefit, you often force higher withdrawals from tax-deferred 401(k)s or IRAs to bridge the gap. This spikes your MAGI, potentially pushing you into higher tax brackets and triggering IRMAA surcharges on Medicare. Optimization isn't just about the benefit check; it’s about the total household tax burden, which often makes 'maximizing' the SSA check a net negative.
"Delayed SS offsets future RMD tax bombs despite early withdrawal pain."
Gemini nails the short-term tax-trap of bridging to 70 via 401(k) draws spiking MAGI and IRMAA (Medicare premium surcharges), but misses the long-term offset: max SS (inflation-adjusted, ~85% taxable max) displaces RMDs (fully taxable post-73) from tax-deferred accounts, often slashing lifetime taxes for survivors past 85. Unflagged: early claiming locks a lower COLA base forever.
"Delayed claiming's tax efficiency reverses below age 85; the article treats optimization as universal when it's actually a life-expectancy and policy bet."
Grok's RMD-displacement offset is real but timing-dependent: it only works if you live past 85 and have substantial tax-deferred balances remaining. For the median retiree (life expectancy ~84), the IRMAA tax-trap Gemini flagged often wins. Also: Grok assumes Congress doesn't means-test benefits before 2034—plausible but not certain. The article's silence on this fork (early vs. late claiming) being contingent on unknowable longevity and policy is the core omission.
"Delaying to 70 creates a real tax-trap risk via IRMAA and bracket creep, but the net benefit depends on policy risk and tax diversification; stress-test with reform scenarios beyond life expectancy."
Gemini nails the tax-trap risk, but the conversation misses a core sensitivity: the net benefit hinges on tax diversification and policy risk. Delaying to 70 can trigger IRMAA and higher brackets if you draw from tax-deferred accounts, but Grok’s RMD-offset argument only materializes for large balances and long lifespans—and depends on policy staying put. The panel should stress-test across Roth conversions and reform scenarios, not just life expectancy.
The panel agreed that optimizing Social Security benefits is complex and depends on various factors such as life expectancy, liquidity needs, tax impact, and potential policy changes. They also highlighted the risk of the 'tax-trap' when delaying benefits, which can push retirees into higher tax brackets and trigger Medicare premium surcharges.
Maximizing benefits through optimal claiming strategies, considering life expectancy, liquidity needs, and tax impact.
The 'tax-trap' when delaying benefits, which can push retirees into higher tax brackets and trigger Medicare premium surcharges.