The flip age: the birthday when waiting on Social Security starts to pay
Claim at 62 and you collect 60 checks before the person who waited sees a dime. The question is not whether the bigger check is bigger. It is when it catches up.
Claim Social Security at 62 instead of 67 and you collect 60 checks before the person who waited receives a dime. On a $2,000 benefit that is $84,000 in the bank before the bigger check even starts. The question is not whether the bigger check is bigger. It is when the bigger check catches up. That birthday has a name, and you can find yours in about a minute.
More checks versus bigger checks
Take Frank, a 62-year-old machinist whose plant closed. His benefit at his full retirement age of 67 is $2,000 a month. Claiming at 62 pays him about $1,400. Waiting to 70 pays about $2,480. That is the staircase every claimant stands on.
Claiming early pays a smaller check more times. Claiming late pays a bigger check fewer times. Over a long enough life the bigger check wins, because the gap between the checks is permanent and the head start is not. Over a short enough life the head start wins, because the bigger check never runs long enough to close it. The age where the two totals are equal is the flip age. Some people call it the break-even age.
Where the lines cross
Follow Frank two ways. In the first he claims at 62 and collects $1,400 a month. In the second he waits until 67 and collects $2,000. Both versions live the same life. Here is what each has collected, in total, at a few birthdays, in today's dollars with no cost-of-living increases.
| Frank's age | Claimed at 62, $1,400 | Claimed at 67, $2,000 | Who is ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | $84,000 | $0 | 62 by $84,000 |
| 75 | $218,400 | $192,000 | 62 by $26,400 |
| 78 | $268,800 | $264,000 | 62 by $4,800 |
| 80 | $302,400 | $312,000 | 67 by $9,600 |
| 85 | $386,400 | $432,000 | 67 by $45,600 |
| 90 | $470,400 | $552,000 | 67 by $81,600 |
The lines cross at 78 years and 8 months. Before that birthday the early claimer has collected more. After it, the person who waited is ahead, and the gap then grows by $600 every month, the difference between the two checks, for the rest of his life.
Your flip age, for a full retirement age of 67
Because the flip age ignores the size of your check, one table covers everyone born in 1960 or later. Find the earlier claiming age you are considering in the left column and the later one across the top.
| Earlier age | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 77y 7m | 78y 0m | 78y 8m | 79y 1m | 79y 8m | 80y 4m |
| 63 | 77y 10m | 78y 3m | 79y 0m | 79y 4m | 80y 0m | 80y 9m |
| 64 | 77y 0m | 78y 0m | 79y 0m | 79y 5m | 80y 1m | 80y 11m |
| 65 | 79y 0m | 80y 0m | 80y 2m | 80y 10m | 81y 7m | |
| 66 | 81y 0m | 80y 9m | 81y 4m | 82y 2m | ||
| 67 | 80y 6m | 81y 6m | 82y 6m |
If you are already past 62, use your age now as the earlier age, rounded to the nearest birthday. A 65-year-old deciding between claiming now and waiting to 70 has a flip age of 81 and 7 months.
Two footnotes. The 62 row is not a typo where a later age flips earlier than the one before it; the reduction changes speed at 64 and the arithmetic follows. And if your full retirement age is before 67, or you are between birthdays, your flip age is a little later than the table shows. To get your exact month: find your head start, which is the smaller check times the months before the bigger check starts. Divide that by the monthly gap between the two checks. The answer is how many months after the later age the bigger check catches up.
Why the flip age is a tool, not an answer
The table leaves out three things, and they are the reason the workbook has eleven more chapters.
It ignores what the early money is for. $84,000 collected between 62 and 67 might sit in a savings account. It might keep you from selling investments in a bad year. It might be the difference between working and not working. The table counts dollars, not what they prevented.
It ignores the survivor. If you are the higher earner in a marriage, your claiming age also sets the check your spouse receives after you die. That check can run for years past your own flip age. For many couples that arithmetic settles the question by itself.
It ignores taxes and the earnings test. A check claimed while you are still earning above the limit is partly withheld. And a bigger check in a year with other income can push more of it into taxable territory.
So use the flip age for the one thing it is good at. If your family history and your health point well past it, waiting is the choice the math favors. If they do not, it is not. Everything else is judgment, and judgment is easier on paper.
Educational, not advice. Clear Table Press is not affiliated with the Social Security Administration or Medicare. Figures carry their year; confirm current amounts at ssa.gov and medicare.gov.