Retirement · Calculator

Social Security bridge.
Should you delay claiming to 70?

Delaying Social Security past full retirement age grows your benefit 8% per year through age 70 ×DON'T TRUST, VERIFYClaim: Delayed retirement credits add approximately 8% per year between FRA and age 70.Verify at: SSA: Delayed Retirement Credits ↗ Source 1 in the list belowSSA's delayed retirement credit is 8% per year for those born in 1943 or later.. This tool shows the break-even age, lifetime benefit difference, and the IRAIndividual Retirement Account (IRA)A retirement account with tax advantages and eligibility rules. Traditional IRA contributions may be deductible; taxable withdrawals generally enter income. Roth contributions use after-tax money, and qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free.Full definition cost of bridging the gap.

The question it answersShould I bridge my income from savings to delay Social Security until 70?

Rules: United States. Privacy: runs in your browser. What you enter stays on your device unless you copy a share link, which puts your inputs in the link.

Looking for something close? Social Security Break-Even: break-even ages for claiming at 62, full retirement age or 70.

US-only. Social Security mechanics are US-specific.

Worked example: FRAFull Retirement Age (FRA)For Social Security retirement benefits, full retirement age depends on birth year. It is 67 for people born in 1960 or later; earlier cohorts have different ages. Claiming earlier reduces retirement benefits, and delayed retirement credits stop at 70. 67, monthly benefit at FRA $2,400. At 70: $2,976 (24% higher). Bridging 3 years of $2,400/month from an IRA: $86,400. Break-even versus claiming at 67: about age 82.5. Living to 90 with delay-to-70 yields ~$52,000 more in lifetime benefits than claiming at FRA.

YOUR INPUTS
Find yours at ssa.gov.
From your statement at ssa.gov/myaccount.
SCENARIOS
CLAIM AT 62
$0/mo
CLAIM AT FRA
$0/mo
CLAIM AT 70
$0/mo
BREAK-EVEN AGE (DELAY 70 VS FRA)
N/A
Bridge cost from IRA: $0
CUMULATIVE BENEFITS BY AGE
LIFETIME BENEFITS BY CLAIMING AGE

Methodology: nominal lifetime totals, no COLACost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)An automatic raise to Social Security or pension payments each year, sized to match how much prices have gone up.. Crossover ages mark where delayed claiming pulls ahead.

Estimate, not tax or legal advice. It applies the current rules listed in the assumptions to the numbers you enter. Details this tool does not model can change the result.

How this tool works
  • Benefit at 62 = FRA benefit × reduction factor. Reduction is 30% if FRA is 67, 25% if FRA is 66 (5/9 of 1% per month for first 36 months early, 5/12 of 1% per month for additional months). This tool applies those monthly rates to the whole months between 62 and your FRA ×DON'T TRUST, VERIFYClaim: SSA early-retirement reduction is 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months and 5/12 of 1% per month for additional months below FRA.Verify at: SSA early retirement reduction ↗ Source 2 in the list belowSSA publishes the exact monthly reduction percentages..
  • Benefit at 70 = FRA benefit × (1 + 0.08 × years past FRA), counted as 2/3 of 1% for each month from FRA to 70. 8% per year delayed retirement creditDelayed retirement creditThe increase in your Social Security benefit for each month you delay claiming past full retirement age, up to age 70: 2/3 of 1% a month, or 8% a year, for anyone born 1943 or later. With a full retirement age of 67, waiting to 70 raises the monthly benefit by 24% for life. Waiting past 70 adds nothing. applies for people born 1943 or later.
  • Break-even is calculated by comparing cumulative benefits between claiming at FRA and claiming at 70. Years of delayed-claim higher benefits eventually exceed the years of FRA benefits foregone during the delay.
  • Bridge cost = (years from FRA to 70) × FRA monthly benefit × 12. Approximation: in practice you would also need to fund taxes on Traditional IRA withdrawals.
  • Lifetime benefit calculations exclude Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs), which would scale all three scenarios proportionally and not change the relative comparison.
  • This tool excludes Social Security taxation impacts, spousal benefits, survivor benefits, and Medicare premium effects. For couples, the higher earner generally delays to 70 to maximize the survivor benefit. Couples should pull both earnings records at ssa.gov/myaccount and compare the survivor benefit each claiming age leaves behind.

Not financial advice. Calculations exclude COLAs, taxes, and spousal/survivor effects. No life expectancy is assumed: the table shows totals at ages 75 to 95, so read the row that fits your health and family history.

HOW THIS IS CALCULATED

This tool runs entirely in your browser: no data is sent to any server. The rules are listed under “How this tool works” above. The core math:

  • Benefit at 62 = FRA benefit × (1 − reduction). The reduction is 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months before full retirement age and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond 36[3]: 30% when FRA is 67, 25% when FRA is 66.
  • Benefit at 70 = FRA benefit × (1 + 0.08 × (70 − FRA)). The delayed retirement credit is 2/3 of 1% a month, 8% a year, earned until age 70[4].
  • Bridge cost = FRA benefit × months from FRA to 70 (12 × (70 − FRA)): the checks skipped while waiting, drawn from an IRA instead.
  • Break-even age, claiming at 70 versus at FRA = 70 + (bridge cost ÷ (benefit at 70 − FRA benefit)) ÷ 12. The table and chart add up checks with no growth: monthly benefit × 12 × years since claiming.

The FRA menu offers every age in the birth-year schedule for people born 1943 or later: 66, then 66 and 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 months, then 67[5]. The chosen FRA is counted in whole months. A saved or shared link carrying an age that is not on the menu is reset to 67, and a note under the menu says so; a negative benefit is counted as $0, also with a note. Figures are nominal: no COLA, no income tax on the IRA withdrawals, no investment return on money not yet spent, and no spousal or survivor benefits. Verify the methodology or inspect the source code in your browser's dev tools.

Where to go from here

Read next

SS Claiming Strategy

Claiming at 62 vs 67 vs 70 can mean $200,000+ difference in lifetime benefits.

Explore further
  • Healthcare Before MedicareMedicare starts at 65. If you retire at 45 or 50, you have 15-20 years of healthcare costs to cover privately.
  • Social Security Break-EvenCompares monthly and lifetime benefit at 62, full retirement age, and 70 from your estimated FRA benefit.

Sources

Bracketed numbers and verify badges in the text link to these sources. Figures, rates and rules change: check each source’s date before acting on it.

  1. Social Security Administration, SSA: Delayed Retirement Credits ↩
  2. Social Security Administration, SSA early retirement reduction ↩
  3. U.S. Government Publishing Office, 20 CFR 404.410: How does SSA reduce my benefits when my entitlement begins before full retirement age?. Checked 2026-09-26. ↩
  4. U.S. Government Publishing Office, 20 CFR 404.313: What are delayed retirement credits and how do they increase my old-age benefit amount?. Checked 2026-09-26. ↩
  5. U.S. Government Publishing Office, 20 CFR 404.409: What is full retirement age?. Checked 2026-09-26. ↩

Calculators are educational estimates, not financial advice. Disclosures · How pages are reviewed