Open Social Security

​Many of our members are receiving SS benefits while others will be considering claiming their SS benefits in the near future.   There is an online website created by financial and tax expert Mike Piper (see bio below) which is called "Open Social Security".  His website has a SS strategy calculator, along with various SS articles, that is worth checking out given your specific situation and needs.

The calculator runs the math for each possible claiming age (or, if you're married, each possible combination of claiming ages) and reports back, telling you which strategy is expected to provide the most total spendable dollars over your lifetime.
Please note that this calculator should not be the only analysis you do, as there are various factors that it does not consider, such as:

• The fact that delaying benefits reduces longevity risk and therefore may be preferable even in some cases in which it is not the strategy that maximizes expected total spending, or
• Tax planning reasons or other unrelated reasons why it might be better for you to file earlier or later than the calculator suggests.

Bio:  Mike Piper is the primary author of the calculator. Mike is a CPA in St. Louis, Missouri. He is the author of ten financial books, as well as the popular blog "Oblivious Investor." He is an occasional public speaker (usually about Social Security or tax planning), and he has been quoted as a Social Security expert in numerous publications (e.g., Wall Street Journal, AARP, Kiplinger, and several others).

Click here for SS Strategy Website