Stop guessing.
Start optimizing.
Most SS calculators optimize one number. Retirement Navigator shows your complete financial outcome — lifetime SS income, portfolio balance, and federal taxes — across every possible claiming age. For the rest of Retirement. In one view.
and worst claiming age
simultaneously
in one combined score
Every other SS calculator is optimizing the wrong number.
Claiming Social Security isn’t a one-variable decision. It’s a tax decision, a Roth conversion decision, an RMD decision, and a survivor planning decision — all at once. Most tools ignore this completely. Not Retirement Navigator.
- Optimizes SS benefits in isolation
- Ignores your Roth conversion window
- Doesn’t model RMD impact at age 73/75
- Misses COLA compounding on benefit size
- Treats survivor benefits as secondary
- Shows gross benefit, not net outcome
- One combined score across all variables
- Models Roth window for every claiming age
- Projects your full RMD burden to age 73/75
- Accounts for COLA compounding on every scenario
- Full spousal & survivor benefit coordination
- Ranks every age by your total household net outcome
One view. Every claiming age. Your complete picture.
Combined Score = Net Lifetime SS Benefits + Ending Portfolio Balance − Total Federal Taxes Paid. All calculated to what is it worth to you TODAY. Most people assume age 70 is always optimal. The math often tells a different story.
| Age | Net SS (PV) | Portfolio (PV) | Fed Taxes | Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | $1,040,000 | $3,820,000 | $1,180,000 | $3,680,000 | #9 |
| 63 | $1,080,000 | $3,970,000 | $1,140,000 | $3,910,000 | #8 |
| 64 | $1,120,000 | $4,150,000 | $1,100,000 | $4,170,000 | #7 |
| 65 | $1,160,000 | $4,340,000 | $1,050,000 | $4,450,000 | #6 |
| 66 | $1,200,000 | $4,590,000 | $980,000 | $4,810,000 | #5 |
| 67 optimal | $1,240,000 | $4,980,000 | $890,000 | $5,330,000 | #1 |
| 68 | $1,220,000 | $4,870,000 | $910,000 | $5,180,000 | #2 |
| 69 | $1,190,000 | $4,760,000 | $940,000 | $5,010,000 | #3 |
| 70 | $1,160,000 | $4,650,000 | $970,000 | $4,840,000 | #4 |
Three steps to your optimal claiming strategy.
No guesswork. No rules of thumb. Just your actual numbers, modeled precisely.
Your ages, life expectancies, Social Security FRA benefit amounts from SSA.gov, current portfolio balance, income needs, and any other income sources like pensions or dividends.
For each annual claiming age from 62 to 70, we calculate your net SS benefits, project your portfolio balance, model Roth conversions and RMDs, and compute total lifetime federal taxes paid.
Every claiming age ranked by your Combined Score — one number that captures everything. You’ll see not just what’s optimal, but by exactly how much, and why.
Every variable that actually matters.
Not built in a lab. Built in the real world.
Retirement Navigator was built by Mike Windle, RICP — a practicing financial advisor who got frustrated watching clients make a permanent, irrevocable decision with incomplete information.
See your optimal claiming strategy.
Request a personalized demo and see exactly what Retirement Navigator reveals for your specific household — in one clear, ranked view.