When Should You Claim Social Security? A Guide for Greater Boston Retirees
The Question Every Greater Boston Retiree Is Asking
When we sit down with people to talk about retirement in the Greater Boston area, one question comes up almost every single time. When should I start taking Social Security?
It sounds like a simple question. It really isn’t.
When you claim Social Security is one of the most consequential decisions you’ll make in retirement. Get the timing right and it may meaningfully strengthen your monthly income for decades to come. Get it wrong and the cost, measured in smaller checks arriving every month for the rest of your life, can be significant. We’re talking tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime.
That’s not meant to scare you. It’s meant to make the case that this decision deserves real thought and real analysis, not a guess based on what your neighbor did or something you read online. At Apex Retirement Services, Social Security income planning is a core part of every retirement consultation we offer, and we’ve seen firsthand how much the right strategy can change someone’s financial picture in retirement.
So let’s walk through what you actually need to know.
Understanding Your Full Retirement Age
Your Full Retirement Age, which most people call their FRA, is the age at which you qualify for 100% of your Social Security benefit. That full benefit is based on your lifetime earnings record, and it’s the foundation everything else is built on. For most people retiring today, Full Retirement Age falls somewhere between 66 and 67 years old depending on the year you were born.
From there, you have choices.
You can begin collecting Social Security benefits as early as age 62, but your monthly benefit will be permanently reduced if you do. In some cases that reduction can be as much as 30% compared to what you’d receive at your Full Retirement Age. That’s not a temporary dip. It follows you for life.
You can claim at your Full Retirement Age and receive exactly the benefit you’ve earned with no reduction.
Or you can delay claiming past your FRA, up to age 70, and for every year you wait your benefit may increase by approximately 8% per year through what are known as delayed retirement credits. That’s a meaningful potential increase in your monthly income that builds year over year and continues for the rest of your life.
Which of these is right for you depends entirely on your own situation. There’s no version of this decision that’s one size fits all, which is exactly why Social Security claiming strategies deserve careful, personalized analysis.
The Case for Waiting
For many people, delaying Social Security benefits and waiting until 70 may significantly increase total lifetime income. If you’re in good health, have savings or other income available to support you in the meantime, and your goal is maximizing Social Security benefits over a long retirement, waiting often makes sense from a numbers standpoint.
For couples, this becomes even more important. Coordinating your Social Security claiming strategies around both spouses’ ages, earnings histories, and health situations may help ensure that the surviving spouse has the strongest possible monthly benefit for the rest of their life. Survivor benefits are directly tied to the higher earner’s benefit amount, and that connection is one of the biggest reasons Social Security income planning for couples needs to be looked at together rather than as two separate decisions.
The Case for Claiming Earlier
That said, waiting isn’t always the right answer. There are real situations where claiming Social Security at 62 or 63 may actually make more sense for your household.
If your health or family history suggests a shorter than average life expectancy, claiming earlier may result in greater total lifetime benefits when you run the numbers over your actual lifespan. If you need income now and don’t have sufficient retirement savings to bridge the gap, waiting simply may not be practical. And a break-even analysis, which compares how long it would take for higher delayed benefits to exceed what you’d collect by claiming earlier, can be a useful way to think through the tradeoffs for your specific situation.
There’s no universally correct answer here. That’s exactly the point. This deserves real analysis, not a rule of thumb.
Spousal and Survivor Benefits
One of the things we see most often when working with couples in Greater Boston is that they’ve left significant lifetime income unclaimed simply because they didn’t fully understand how spousal and survivor benefits work.
Depending on your household’s earnings history, one spouse may be eligible for a spousal benefit worth up to 50% of the other spouse’s Full Retirement Age benefit. This can be especially valuable when one spouse has a significantly lower earnings record or spent years outside the workforce raising a family or caregiving.
Survivor benefits add another critical layer to this. When one partner passes away, the surviving spouse may be eligible to receive up to 100% of the deceased spouse’s benefit, but only if the claiming strategy was built with that possibility in mind from the beginning. Poorly coordinated Social Security decisions can permanently reduce what the surviving spouse receives for the rest of their life, and that’s a consequence that can’t be undone.
At Apex Retirement Services, we include a Social Security analysis as a standard part of every retirement consultation, covering your earnings record, your spouse’s situation, and how your claiming approach fits into your overall retirement income plan.
Social Security and Taxes
Here’s something that genuinely surprises a lot of retirees. Social Security benefits can be taxable.
If your combined income, meaning your Social Security benefit plus your other sources of income, exceeds certain federal thresholds, up to 85% of your Social Security benefit may be subject to federal income tax. That’s not a small detail. It can meaningfully affect how much income you actually keep each month.
This is where Social Security benefit taxation intersects with your broader retirement income planning. The timing of when you claim, and how that timing interacts with your IRA withdrawals, Required Minimum Distributions, and other income sources, can affect your total tax picture in retirement more than most people realize. A well-structured Social Security income strategy thinks through all of these interactions together rather than treating each piece in isolation.
For residents of Greater Boston there’s also a state-level advantage worth knowing. Massachusetts does not tax Social Security income at the state level, which is a genuine benefit for retirees living here compared to those in states that do. For questions about how your Social Security income interacts with your overall Massachusetts tax situation, always consult a CPA or independent tax professional familiar with your specific circumstances.
Social Security Changes in 2026
The Social Security landscape continues to shift. Social Security changes in 2026, including adjustments to benefit calculations, Cost of Living Adjustments, and ongoing legislative conversations about the program’s long-term funding, make staying current on this topic more important than it’s been in years. If you haven’t revisited your Social Security strategy recently, this is a good year to do it.
Taking the Guesswork Out of It
At Apex Retirement Services, every client receives a personalized Social Security analysis as part of their retirement income planning process. We look at your earnings record, your spouse’s situation, your other income sources, your health, and your overall retirement goals, and we help you understand what the real numbers look like for each claiming option.
This isn’t a generic conversation pulled from a financial planning website. It’s yours, built around your specific situation.
Ryan Skinner and our team have walked through this process with hundreds of families across the Greater Boston area. We know how much this decision matters, and we take it seriously.
Ready to Build a Social Security Strategy That Works for You?
At Apex Retirement Services, our team helps individuals and families throughout Greater Boston build retirement income plans around their real situation, including a personalized Social Security income strategy designed around your goals, your timeline, and your family.
If you’d like to explore your options we’d be glad to help. There’s no cost and no obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Not necessarily. Waiting until 70 may result in a higher monthly benefit, but whether that’s the right move depends on your health, your other income sources, your spouse’s situation, and your overall retirement income plan. For some people the break-even timeline doesn’t favor waiting. For others, particularly those in good health with the resources to bridge the gap, waiting may meaningfully increase total lifetime income. A personalized Social Security analysis is the only way to know what the numbers actually look like for your household.
Yes, in most cases. If you claim Social Security before reaching your Full Retirement Age and continue working, your benefit may be temporarily reduced depending on how much you earn above certain income thresholds. Once you reach your Full Retirement Age you can earn any amount without it affecting your benefit. Any reductions applied before Full Retirement Age are typically recalculated and restored once you reach that milestone.
You may be eligible for a survivor benefit of up to 100% of your spouse’s Social Security benefit depending on your age and your own earnings record at the time. This is one of the most important reasons for couples to coordinate their Social Security claiming strategies together from the beginning. The decisions you make today about when and how to claim can have a permanent impact on what the surviving spouse receives for the rest of their life.
Your benefit is based on your highest 35 years of earnings, adjusted for inflation. The Social Security Administration uses this to calculate your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings, then applies a benefit formula to arrive at your Primary Insurance Amount, which is the benefit you’d receive at your Full Retirement Age. Benefits claimed before FRA are permanently reduced. Benefits delayed past FRA may increase through delayed retirement credits up to age 70.
Federal Social Security rules apply equally in every state, so your benefit amount itself isn’t affected by where you live. However, Massachusetts does not tax Social Security income at the state level, which is a meaningful advantage for retirees in the Greater Boston area compared to those living in states that do. For questions about how your Social Security income interacts with your overall Massachusetts tax situation, consult a CPA or tax professional familiar with your specific circumstances.
Your retirement journey starts here. Connect with Ryan and explore your options today.
