SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Visualizer

Fast, Easy Scenario Analysis for Retirement Benefits

For a married couple, deciding when to claim Social Security is really a bet on two lifespans. Claim early and the checks start sooner. Wait and they're bigger for life, including the check the survivor keeps after the first death. Most tools give one "best" answer based on average life expectancy. Social Security Visualizer shows how every claiming choice holds up if either spouse's life runs short or long, and whether the monthly checks cover the bills, even for the survivor.

Enter birthdates and each spouse's benefit amount from SSA.gov. Social Security Visualizer works out retirement, spousal and survivor benefits for every claiming age from 62 to 70. It flags the choice that pays the most on average and the safest choice and charts any two side by side so you can see when waiting pays off.

Built for Real-World Planning

Clarity for Clients

One map shows how each claiming choice plays out, whether your client lives to 75 or 95. The numbers are there when you need them, but the big picture comes first.

Fast Planning Conversations

Pick a choice, chart it, compare it. Break-even ages and a plain-language, year-by-year account make the tradeoffs easy to talk through in a meeting.

Nothing to Install

It runs in your web browser. Client information stays on your computer, and you can save each client's file to open again later.

What's Covered

Included in the Model

Claiming-age comparisons: Every claiming age from 62 to 70 for each spouse, with the best choice on average and the safest choice flagged.
Longevity: Equally likely lifespans for each spouse, from the Social Security life tables for their age and sex.
Personal benefits: Based on each spouse's PIA from SSA.gov, or their current check if already claiming.
Spousal benefits: Calculated automatically from claiming ages and both PIAs.
Survivor benefits: Including the reduced benefit for a survivor who claims early, in every lifespan.
Present value of lifetime benefits: Discounted to today for apples-to-apples comparisons.
Income need: Flags claiming choices that fall short of the couple's or the survivor's monthly need.
Trust fund shortfall: Choose a cut and the year it starts.
Break-even: When waiting catches up with claiming early, in each lifespan.
Drill-down: Chart, plain-language explanation and year-by-year numbers for any claiming choice.
Client records: Save, print to PDF, or export.

Outside the Scope

Disability and SSI: SSDI, Supplemental Security Income and state supplements.
Child and dependent benefits: Including child-in-care benefits.
Ex-spouse benefits: Spousal or survivor benefits on a former spouse's record.
Earnings test: Benefits withheld for working before Full Retirement Age.
Taxes: Tax on benefits isn't modeled. Tax Mapper covers that.
Future PIA changes: PIA isn't adjusted for future earnings or more years of work.
Earlier birth years: Claiming decisions are for people born 1960 or later. A spouse already claiming can be born as early as 1943.

Because taxes don't retire when you do