CDM Financial Services
CDM Financial Services
How the Social Security Optimizer works

We estimate your monthly Social Security benefit at different claiming ages by adjusting your full-retirement-age benefit (PIA) up or down using the Social Security Administration's published reduction and delayed-credit rules. Where available, the calculation is performed by the pmSSAnalyzer engine; otherwise a transparent local estimate is used.

Step by step

  1. Claiming before full retirement age (FRA) reduces the benefit; claiming after FRA (up to age 70) increases it with delayed-retirement credits.
  2. We compute the benefit at each age from 62 to 70 and highlight the age that maximizes the monthly amount.
  3. The result labels whether it came from the pmSSAnalyzer engine or the local estimate.

The math

Early reduction: 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months early, then 5/12 of 1% per month beyond. Delayed credit: 2/3 of 1% per month (8%/year) after FRA up to age 70. (Per SSA rules.)

Sources & assumptions

Note: When the pmSSAnalyzer engine is used, its detailed optimization logic is proprietary to that product; the SSA adjustment rules shown here are public.

  1. This is an educational estimate of Social Security benefits, not an official SSA determination.
  2. Actual benefits depend on your full earnings record. Speak with your advisor and review your SSA statement.