Thinking about claiming Social Security? Before making this decision, getting professional guidance is more important than most people realize. A financial advisor can help you avoid costly mistakes that could reduce your retirement income for the rest of your life.
Here is why professional help matters before you file for benefits.
Top reasons to talk with a financial advisor before claiming Social Security
You can claim Social Security anywhere between ages 62 and 70, but the timing has permanent financial consequences. There are several compelling reasons to sit down with a qualified advisor before you act.
- There are hundreds of claiming options. In Social Security’s Program Operations Manual System, there are 567 calculations that inform the question of when to claim. Running through all the variables, especially for married couples weighing spousal and survivor benefits, is genuinely complex. An advisor can map out the full financial picture so you do not leave significant money on the table without realizing it.
- Most Americans do not understand Social Security’s rules. The Allianz Life 2025 Annual Retirement Study found that 55% of Americans admit they do not know much about Social Security or how it will fit into their retirement plan, while 46% worry about maximizing the benefit. Only 39% say they have a concrete plan for how they will claim. Those knowledge gaps lead people to claim at the wrong time and permanently shrink both their monthly check and their lifetime total. A separate survey by the Nationwide Retirement Institute found that only 21% of adults can correctly identify the age at which they qualify for full benefits.
- Timing also affects your spouse. Your claiming decision has ripple effects on anyone financially connected to you. A spouse cannot collect a spousal benefit until you file for your own retirement benefit first. That dependency creates a temptation to claim early, but doing so can permanently reduce survivor benefits if your spouse outlives you. An advisor can show you the long-term trade-offs so you do not make a short-term choice that harms your household for decades.
Understanding the claiming age stakes helps explain why this decision deserves careful attention. The full retirement age (FRA) is now 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Claiming at 62, the earliest possible age, permanently reduces your benefit by 30% compared with waiting until FRA. On the other end, delaying past FRA earns an 8% boost for every full year you wait, up to age 70. That means a person who delays from 67 to 70 can increase their monthly benefit by 24%.
Social Security is also the only retirement income source most people have that is guaranteed to last a lifetime and adjusted automatically for inflation each year. The Social Security Administration announced a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026, lifting the average retired worker’s monthly benefit from roughly $2,015 to about $2,071. That built-in inflation protection is a key reason the claiming decision carries such long-term weight.
One more piece of context adds urgency. The 2025 Social Security Trustees Report projects that the combined trust fund reserves will be depleted around 2034. At that point, ongoing payroll tax revenue would cover roughly 81% of scheduled benefits. Congress has acted to shore up Social Security before, but the uncertainty makes it even more important to optimize your own claiming strategy now rather than assuming the program’s future is fully settled.
You cannot afford mistakes when it comes to these benefits. Once you have claimed early, your options for reversing course are narrow. You can withdraw your application, but only within the first 12 months, and only if you repay every dollar you received. Most people cannot do that, which means the choice you make is almost certainly permanent.
Find an advisor to help with your Social Security claim
Finding the right advisor means looking for someone experienced specifically in Social Security planning, not just general retirement investing. You want a professional who can build a coordinated strategy: the optimal age to claim, a tax-efficient withdrawal sequence from your investments, and a plan that holds up across different longevity scenarios. Getting that picture right in your 60s is far easier than trying to correct mistakes in your 70s or 80s.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to include the 2025 Allianz Life Annual Retirement Study figures (including the finding that 67% of Americans worry Social Security will not last throughout their retirement and that only 39% have a claiming plan), the 2026 Social Security COLA of 2.8% and updated average monthly benefit of $2,071, the current full retirement age of 67 for those born in 1960 or later, the 30% benefit reduction for claiming at 62, and the 2025 Trustees Report projection that combined trust fund reserves could be depleted around 2034.
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