From time to time I receive emails from people using the Open Social Security calculator who want to know: why is it giving me a different answer than it gave me last time I ran it?
The answer (unless you’re changing inputs on your own) is usually interest rates. By default, the calculator automatically pulls in the yield on 20-year TIPS to use as the discount rate. And that yield changes over time. For instance it was 1.07% at the beginning of this year, fell to as low as 0.07% in August, and is now back up to 0.41% as of this writing.
Point being: claiming Social Security early (in order to keep a larger portion of your portfolio invested) becomes more/less attractive as interest rates rise/fall. For those who wish to experiment with this input in the calculator, you can check the box for “advanced options” at the top of the page and adjust the discount rate for yourself to see how the output changes.
Recommended Reading
- Knowing If You Can Stomach the Next Big Market Swing from Jazon Zweig
- Why the World of Personal Finance Needs More Politics from Helaine Olen
- Because You Never Know from Chris Mamula
- Open Enrollment: What to Look for in Mid-Career from Katie Brewer
- The Capacity Crossroads: Building a Lifestyle Firm, Enterprise Firm, or a Small Giant from Michael Kitces
- Why XY Planning Network is Suing the SEC over Regulation Best Interest from Michael Kitces
- Companies Started by Solo Founders Survive Longer than Those Started by Teams from Jason Greenberg and Ethan Mollick
- If You Have a Pension, How Safe Is It? from Michelle Singletary
- Medicaid for Children Pays Off Later from Kimberly Blanton
Thanks for reading!
Hi. I'm Mike Piper, the author of this blog. I'm a CPA and the author of several personal finance books. The point of this blog is to show that investing doesn't have to be complicated. 
