Preview of what we’ll cover today:

🧭 Claiming Decisions: How to think through when to start Social Security

⚖️ Personal Factors: Income needs, work plans, and lifestyle considerations

⏳ Waiting Strategies: Pros and cons of filing at full retirement age

📊 Real Examples: Hypotheticals that show how strategies play out

🚀 Planning Ahead: Why earlier conversations lead to better outcomes

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More About This Episode:

Turning 62 doesn’t feel like a big deal until Social Security enters the conversation. Filing now could put money in your pocket sooner, or it could quietly cost you tens of thousands over a lifetime. Ryan breaks down how to think through the decision to make sure your choice supports your retirement strategy, not just the birthday on the calendar.

Go Deeper Into The Episode:

0:00 – Intro

0:45 – Why Some People File at 62

1:43 – Why Others Wait Until Full Retirement Age (FRA)

3:50 – Case Study

5:17 – Free Portfolio Analysis

7:04 – Start Sooner Rather Than Later

Resources:

Retire Pilots – https://retirepilots.com

Get your FREE Retirement Toolkit – https://bit.ly/3ZmZsaX

Pilot Tax – https://pilot-tax.com/

The Pilot’s Advisor Podcast is also on video. Watch & Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3EIEBW2

Connect with Pilot-Tax: https://pilot-tax.com/

Episode Transcription:

(Note, this is an automated transcription. Please forgive any errors.)

Walter Storholt  00:04

All right, so you’re turning 62 and you’re wondering, do I take Social Security or not? We’re going to talk to Ryan Fleming, the pilots advisor on today’s episode about that exact topic. Ryan, is this something that you run into often when you’re talking to clients, they come into you and say, Hey, I’m getting ready to turn 62 I want to take Social Security. Do I do? I do it or not? Is that simple? Yeah.

Ryan Fleming  00:23

I mean, it’s definitely a normal conversation that comes up. I can tell you, you know, the way I lead the conversation. And, you know, one of the first things I’ll say is, well, yeah, that’s easy. Tell me when you’re going to die, you know? And of course, nobody can tell me when they’re going to die, but it, but it opens up the conversation piece and, and I think the important thing here, too is just and I wrote down some notes here to the conversation is very, very personal in nature, based off of your circumstances, your job. You know what you want retirement to look like, but why? Some people file at 62 they paid into it. Man, they want something back, and they’re ready to take it back as quickly as possible, whether they need it for income or whether they’re just going to take it back and invest it.

Walter Storholt  01:06

I want to take any risks and not getting that money back, give it to me. Yeah, I think the

Ryan Fleming  01:10

politics play into it a little bit. And everybody has different politics. So there you have that they’re worried about longevity and wanting to collect as much as they can while they’re alive. You know, same kind of thing. They want to invest the benefits themselves. So just get it and do something with it. Pass the leftover funds to their heirs or their kids, or they’re, you know, actually ready to retire right now and need the income, so they’re pulling less off their 401, K. Obviously, if somebody’s still working, in many cases, they’ll wait till they’re 65 but some of the reasons why others wait till full retirement age. You ready for this one? Yep. And if you don’t like any of these Walter, you can step in at any time.

Walter Storholt  01:49

The other side of the coin, right? So there’s the one group of people that’s kind of like, Hey, I have to take it at 62 for all of those reasons that you just mentioned. We talked a lot about assumptions on a recent episode, right? There’s others that assume, no, I need to wait until full retirement age. Can’t take it any sooner for various reasons.

Ryan Fleming  02:05

Yeah, and you know, 65 is not even full retirement age. So you might lie to your 65 and then wait the next, you know, two years, or whatever it might be to your full retirement age, which is another possibility, which is going to give you the maximum benefit. Which one of the reasons why you’d want to do that is because then, if something happens to you, your spouse would get that larger amount. So that’s something. But why people wait? They’re still working, and they don’t want their benefit reduced with their earnings test. They want the maximum benefit possible, whether that’s full retirement age or even 70. I mean, is that a thing? Wait till 70, sure, I guess. Yeah, coordinating with a spouse for survival benefits, where the person that earned less will take it early on, and then we wait for the other person, kind of like I talked about you get the larger amount. And this is why it’s so important for you to not just talk to a financial advisor about your situation, but actually call the Social Security office and talk to one of their specialists. Lots of great information. What about how long you live? I mean, are you are you somebody that’s going to die in your 60s? Or are you that person that all your parents and grandparents all live to be 95 I think that really plays into it. So if you expect to live a long time, that maybe that increased benefits going to allow you to not run out of money. So that’s a big thing.

Walter Storholt  03:24

Yeah, we always try to stay away from predicting how someone how long someone’s going to live, right? But if every man in your family has died at 67 for, you know, certain health reasons, and you’ve got all those same traits like might influence your decision a little bit versus, hey, everyone in my family, despite their health, has lived to 100 I better be kind of thinking in that mindset too. I guess we can lean one way or the other a little bit. Can you give us maybe a hypothetical or, you know, kind of a real life example of where somebody came in with one of these assumptions, hey, I’ve got to wait till full retirement, or I want to take it at 62 and when you looked under the hood, it gave you reasons to move that number or that date.

Ryan Fleming  04:04

I think that it’s funny, you know, because I get to have this conversation a lot, but just talking about it and feeling out different feelings and emotions really can more clearly define what might be the best decision for that, that that person. I think that just taking it, to take it and you’re going to blow that is not the right way to do it, whether you’re working or not. But if you can take it early and invest it and grow it over, you know, let’s say you the original plan was you weren’t going to touch it till you’re 70 because you wanted that big benefit. Well, what if you took it early and started investing that money, you weren’t going to spend any of it and let it start working for you. You can make some of those ass options that we talked about before, you know, make some assumptions on that rate of return and and really see where the break even analysis is. And, you know, emotions play a huge part in almost anything we do, but the numbers matter too. And I think it’s, I think it’s just a combination of those two. Things, and then your individual situation, and we come up with something that probably works for you or that might might make more sense. And what I found is, the more you ask questions and provide different scenarios, most clients are able to answer it for themselves.

Walter Storholt  05:16

Nice. We talked about the retirement toolkit and how clients and obviously somebody watching or listening to this show can get that each episode, but I’m just curious. I’m going to ask kind of a question that I know the answer to, I think, but not everybody knows it. If somebody wants to get that retirement toolkit and they want to get the free portfolio analysis that you talk about, Ryan, will you look at Social Security as part of that plan and talk to people about this element of the planning process,

Ryan Fleming  05:43

absolutely, and it is a normal conversation, because we’re going to look at all your your whole situation, and any investment accounts you have. But what I would say is, don’t wait. Don’t wait till you’re 60 or 62 or 63 to reach out to a financial advisor. Act now, whether you’re in your 30s or 40s or even 50s, the earlier you talk to a financial advisor, I guarantee you. I’m not allowed to use that word guarantee, so don’t sue me or whatever in this industry, but I guarantee you that you’re going to be in a much, much better place when you are ready to retire. And the earlier you talk to a financial advisor, the better off you’re going to be. Why? Because I get to see it all the time, and I get to see all the lessons learned and all the wove Spilt Milk of Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda talked to an advisor. Order the toolkit. It’s free. The analysis is free. You could go through the whole analysis. And hey, if you just learned something, then it was worth it, right? If you got one golden nugget, it was worth it.

Walter Storholt  06:41

Yeah, the link to order the toolkit is in the description of today’s show. No cost to get that toolkit in your hands. Just put in some basic information, and it’ll be on its way to you, and that qualifies you for the free portfolio analysis and that one on one talk with Ryan. So the best place to start get that toolkit again link in the description of today’s show. Click on that, and you’re off to the races again. We’ve been on this assumption kick lately, and that’s one final good one to point out, right there, Ryan, a lot of people assume you can’t really do much planning until you get to retirement. No, no, no. The further in advance you can start planning, the better. It’s that many less years of making mistakes on your own, it’s that many years on your side to make strategic moves. All sorts of good stuff comes from planning in advance and planning early. Whether that be one year in advance is better than zero years, but five years in advance is better than one, and so on and so forth. So definitely take some action today and make sure you’re on the right track for retirement by getting that toolkit and the portfolio analysis. Ryan, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Ryan Fleming  07:44

Thank you, Walter, I appreciate your time as always, and just like saving and investing, the time factor matters, reach out sooner than later, talk to you guys all soon fly safe.

Speaker 1  07:57

Information is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute tax investment or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified investment legal or tax professional before taking any action.