Open Social Security: New Feature & Social Security Planning Takeaways

The Open Social Security calculator has a new feature.

Specifically, the output now includes a color-coded graph that shows the desirability of many of the different filing dates all at once. (In most cases, it shows all of the options, but there are some situations where a 2-dimensional graph simply cannot represent every possible option.) The benefit is that you can immediately see which filing dates are almost as good as the recommended filing date(s), which dates are “pretty good,” and which dates are not so good.

In addition, you can click on that graph to very quickly compare many different alternative options. (It functions as an alternative to the dropdown inputs for filing dates on the “test an alternative claiming strategy” part of the page.)

Also, when the option to assume a future cut in benefits is activated (under “advanced options”), the graph has radio buttons that allow you to quickly flip back and forth between “benefits are cut” and “benefits are not cut” calculations to see how different strategies fare under the different assumptions.

Credit where credit is due: both the original idea for this feature and the overwhelming majority of the code involved were contributed by Brian Courts.

For reference, the new feature is intentionally designed to not be displayed when the calculator is being used on a device with a display width of 710px or less. (On a larger display you can quickly click all over the graph and see the corresponding output, but on mobile you would have to constantly scroll back and forth. So, with the goal of providing the best mobile experience, the calculator still works how it always has.)

In short, the new feature allows you to make a lot of comparisons in a short time, which can both:

1. Help you make a more informed decision about your own Social Security benefits, and
2. Speed up the learning process about Social Security planning in general.

With regard to that second point, some of the things that you will likely find include:

One: what matters most isn’t picking the very best strategy. What matters most is just avoiding a really bad one. There are usually plenty of strategies that are practically as good as the very best strategy. That is, for most people, moving the filing date a few months in one direction or the other won’t have a huge impact. (So, for example, if there’s a compelling tax-planning reason to do so, go for it.)

Two: the filing ages that work best for a person depend significantly on their marital status and earnings history.

• It’s usually very advantageous for the higher earner in a married couple to wait.
• It’s usually somewhat advantageous for an unmarried person to wait. (But anywhere from age 68-70 is generally pretty similar.)
• It’s not especially advantageous for the lower earner in a married couple to wait. But it’s not usually very impactful (in either direction) either.

Three: whether the strategies that work well in a “benefits will not be cut” scenario also work well in a “benefits will be cut” scenario depends significantly on your date of birth.

To be clear, these are the very same things that people have been telling me that they’ve learned from the calculator over the last couple of years. But, again, I hope that this new feature can help speed up that learning process.