Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman Have Opposite Advice on Social Security. The Data Is Clear on Who Is Right
There’s a reason it’s important to put a lot of thought into your Social Security filing decision. The age you sign up for benefits will help determine how much monthly income you get from the program. If you file for…
Few financial decisions carry as much long-term weight as choosing when to claim Social Security. The age you file locks in your monthly benefit for life, making this one of the most consequential retirement choices you will ever face.
Filing at your full retirement age (FRA), which is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, gives you the standard monthly benefit tied to your earnings history. Claim earlier or later, and that amount shifts permanently in either direction.
The earliest eligible age is 62. Claiming then cuts your monthly benefit by about 30% compared to filing at FRA. Delaying past FRA earns you an 8% annual credit for each year you wait, up to age 70. With an FRA of 67, that maximum delay produces a 24% permanent boost to your monthly check.
Those percentages add up fast in dollar terms. Consider a worker whose baseline benefit at 67 is $2,000 per month. Filing at 62 permanently reduces that to $1,400. Waiting until 70 raises it permanently to $2,480. The spread between the earliest and latest claiming ages reaches 77% in guaranteed monthly income, a gap that compounds sharply over a long retirement.
Two of America’s most prominent personal finance voices, Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman, land on opposite sides of this decision. The data, however, gives one of them a clear edge.
Dave Ramsey’s Advice on Social Security
Ramsey advocates claiming at 62. His core argument is direct: the earlier you start collecting, the more individual payments you receive over your lifetime. Beyond the raw payment count, he argues that retirees who invest early benefits rather than spend them can more than offset the reduction that comes with filing before FRA. In his view, putting that money to work in the market neutralizes the actuarial penalty built into early claiming.
The Case for Ramsey in a High-Yield Environment
Critics of Ramsey’s approach argue that it forces retirees to gamble their safety net on stock market returns. Current bond market conditions do lend some credibility to his logic. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.35% on October 7, 2026, its highest level since 2002, driven by a Federal Reserve rate hike, surging AI-related corporate debt issuance, a projected $1.9 trillion federal deficit, rising energy prices, and global bond selloffs across Japan, the UK, and France. Early claimers can now access meaningful risk-free yields without touching volatile equities. Locking in that rate reshapes the traditional break-even math, giving a conservative saver a legitimate way to hedge against the lower monthly payout without putting principal at risk.
The Working Retirement Trap: The Earnings Test Penalty
A significant flaw in the claim-early-and-invest strategy surfaces for anyone who keeps working after filing. Under the Social Security earnings test, if you are under full retirement age for the entire year, the SSA withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above the annual exempt amount, which is $24,480 in 2026. For a retiree counting on that monthly check to fund an investment strategy, this withholding can wipe out the surplus entirely. The investment thesis only holds if the cash flow actually materializes, and for many working retirees, it simply does not.
Suze Orman’s Advice on Social Security
Orman takes the opposite position: 70 is the right age to claim. Her reasoning centers on the lifetime value of a larger guaranteed check. A higher baseline benefit carries special weight for retirees who reach their later years without substantial savings, a situation that describes a large and growing share of older Americans. Social Security is often the only truly guaranteed income stream in retirement, and the bigger that stream, the more financial resilience a retiree carries into the years ahead.
The Fixed-Cost Squeeze Supporting Orman
Rising fixed costs in retirement reinforce Orman’s argument. The standard monthly Medicare Part B premium reached $202.90 in 2026, a jump of $17.90 (roughly 10%) from $185 in 2025. According to the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report, the premium is projected to rise again to $209.50 in 2027. That trajectory arrived alongside a 2026 Social Security COLA of just 2.8%, with the 2027 COLA currently estimated at 3.5% to 3.6% by groups including The Senior Citizens League and AARP. Research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found that the Part B premium hike alone consumed more than a quarter of the 2026 COLA for the typical beneficiary, leaving the net purchasing-power gain far smaller than the headline number suggested. For retirees locked into a reduced early-claiming benefit, healthcare cost creep erodes real income faster with each passing year. Orman’s case for waiting until 70 is, in part, a structural hedge against that squeeze.
The Spousal Coordination and Tax Safety Nets
Viewing Social Security in isolation misses some of the most powerful optimization strategies available, particularly for married couples. In a dual-income household, having the lower-earning spouse file early provides immediate liquidity while the primary earner delays until 70. That approach permanently locks in the highest possible survivor benefit, protecting whichever spouse outlives the other. The gap between the two claiming ages also creates a useful income-sequencing window, letting the couple draw down taxable retirement accounts before the larger benefit kicks in.
A separate but related consideration is the so-called Tax Torpedo, the income threshold at which required minimum distributions and investment income combine to make up to 85% of Social Security benefits subject to federal income tax. Early filers who also hold large tax-deferred retirement accounts can find that additional bracket exposure quietly eroding the real value of their monthly benefit. Delaying Social Security while strategically converting traditional IRA assets to Roth accounts is one proven way to reduce that exposure before benefits begin.
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Ramsey vs. Orman: Who Is Right on Social Security?
There is no universally correct age to file. The right answer depends on your health, your savings, your spouse’s situation, and your plans for continued work. What looks optimal for one retiree can be a poor fit for another.
That said, the broad data tilts clearly toward Orman. A 2019 study by investment firm United Income, which analyzed the claiming decisions of roughly 20,000 retired workers, found that 57% would have come out ahead financially by waiting until age 70. A 2022 paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research went further, concluding that more than 90% of workers should wait until 70, yet only about 10.2% actually do. The same paper found that the typical household aged 45 to 62 loses a median of $182,370 in lifetime discretionary spending by claiming too early, a striking illustration of how costly the default toward early claiming can be.
Social Security and SSI benefits for roughly 75 million Americans increased 2.8% in 2026. With the 2027 COLA now projected at 3.5% to 3.6%, the income picture for beneficiaries is improving modestly, but the fear of leaving money on the table by waiting continues to push retirees toward early claiming. According to Social Security Administration data, nearly a quarter of new retired-worker beneficiaries claimed at 62 last year, and nearly half filed before reaching their full retirement age. Cash-flow anxiety, health concerns, and the psychological pull of getting “something now” routinely override the long-term math.
From a pure wealth-accumulation standpoint, Orman’s advice holds for most people. But “most” carries real weight here. If your health is poor, if you have limited savings and pressing bills, or if you plan to keep working past 62 regardless, the calculus shifts. Filing at FRA or somewhere between 62 and 70 may fit your actual circumstances better than either extreme.
The most important takeaway is that this decision deserves genuine analysis, not a default. Run the numbers for your specific situation, and consider working with a fee-only financial planner before you file.
Editor’s note: This update corrects the 10-year Treasury yield reference, reflecting the climb to 5.35% on October 7, 2026, a 24-year high (highest since 2002), rather than the previously cited mid-September level. It also incorporates 2027 Medicare Part B premium projections of $209.50 per the Medicare Trustees Report, and current 2027 Social Security COLA estimates of 3.5% to 3.6% from The Senior Citizens League and AARP, with the official SSA announcement expected October 14.
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Maurie Backman has more than a decade of experience writing about financial topics, including retirement, investing, Social Security, and real estate. Her work has appeared on sites that include The Motley Fool, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, and Kiplinger.
Prior to becoming a full-time financial writer, Maurie worked in the financial industry trading distressed debt. She then changed course and spent a few years designing electronic toys. After a stint in content marketing and UX, she shifted back into writing and has since covered everything from the housing market to estate planning to Medicare.
When she's not busy writing, Maurie can be found hiking, walking her dogs, driving her kids to their various sports practices and games, and curling up with a good book. She cooks on occasion and bakes way too often.
