| A new online Social Security tool was released in | | | | - Side-by-side comparison of real and discounted |
| November that every individual or married couple | | | | cash flows which will drive home the impact of |
| nearing retirement should investigate. | | | | inflation on your benefits later in life |
| No, this is not the new and improved calculator | | | | - With the additional input of a spouse's benefits |
| recently offered by the Social Security | | | | and birthday, the calculator will generate results |
| Administration that gives you a more precise | | | | for nine retirement option combinations between |
| estimate of your Social Security benefits. And its | | | | you and your spouse |
| not the retirement planning tool from an insurance | | | | With the benefit income and age disparity built-in |
| or financial institution of your choice that tells you | | | | by considering the spouse in the calculation, a |
| what kind of nest egg you need before retiring. | | | | layer of complexity is added to the couple's |
| This new tool is a Social Security calculator with a | | | | retirement planning. A simple case is when the |
| twist. The tool simplifies the Social Security | | | | spouse has no Social Security estimated benefits |
| benefit question by using the actual benefit | | | | of their own and gets a "spousal benefit". A more |
| estimates that the Social Security Administration | | | | complicated case is when the married couple both |
| provides you every year in the "Your Social | | | | have significant estimated benefits but one is |
| Security Statement". The twist is what it does | | | | considerably older or younger than the other. The |
| with these simple inputs. | | | | calculation must handle not only "spousal benefits" |
| With the three retirement benefit values from | | | | but also the situation where one of the couple |
| your report and your birthday, the calculator will | | | | may transition from a "spousal benefit" to their |
| give you: | | | | own benefit at a later age. |
| - Total and annual cash flow streams (benefits + | | | | The calculator only deals with retirement benefits |
| investments) to age 100 for three retirement | | | | and does not consider disability, survivor or |
| options -- retiring at 62, at full retirement age or | | | | medicare benefits or working after retirement. All |
| at 70 | | | | benefit inputs are taken directly from Your Social |
| - Results in chart and table format | | | | Security Statement or from one of the Social |
| - Use the chart to see the break-even point -- | | | | Security Administration calculators at ssa.gov. |
| the age at which the higher monthly benefits of a | | | | The calculator is free to use and is intended as an |
| retire-late option overtake the lower monthly | | | | educational tool to help you and your spouse |
| benefits of a retire-early option | | | | better understand issues related to Social Security |
| - The option of considering investment gains in | | | | retirement benefits and the impact of inflation on |
| the overall cash flow calculation | | | | those benefits. |