- - Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Claim Social Security Without Consulting a Financial Advisor First

Christy BieberDecember 15, 2025 at 12:07 PM

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Social Security’s manual contains 567 calculations for determining your optimal claiming age.

55% of Americans lack understanding of how Social Security fits into their retirement plans.

A financial advisor can help create a Social Security claiming strategy that works within your overall retirement plan.

A recent study identified one single habit that doubled Americans’ retirement savings and moved retirement from dream, to reality. Read more here.

Are you thinking of claiming Social Security? Before you jump into making this decision, it's actually really important that you get some professional help first. Talking to a financial advisor could ensure you avoid making an expensive mistake that affects your financial security throughout your retirement years.

Here's why it pays to get professional help before you claim your benefits.

Top reasons to talk with a financial advisor before claiming Social Security

You have a choice of when to claim Social Security between the ages of 62 and 70, and you should consult with an advisor when making these decisions for a few key reasons:

There are hundreds of claiming options. In Social Security's Program Operations Manual System, there are 567 calculations that help you determine when the best age to claim Social Security is. Running through all of the different claiming options, especially if you are married, is something most people aren't really equipped to do on their own. A financial advisor can help you to fully understand how your claiming choices are going to affect your finances, so you don't leave a lot of money on the table without realizing it.

Most people don't really understand the rules of Social Security. An Allianz Life survey revealed that 46% of people are worried about maximizing Social Security, while 55% said they don't know much about how their benefits will fit into their retirement plans. If you don't know all of Social Security's complicated rules, you are more likely to claim at the wrong time and potentially shrink both your monthly benefits and your lifetime benefits.

Your decisions may not just affect you. Your Social Security claiming choice can affect not only your own income, but also your spouse's if you are married. For example, your spouse cannot claim their spousal benefit if you don't claim your own retirement benefits first, so you may be tempted to claim your spousal benefits ASAP to unlock these benefits -- but doing so can shrink survivor benefits. Your advisor can help you understand the big picture and the long-term impact of your benefit claiming choice so you don't end up making mistakes that affect you or your loved ones down the line.

Social Security is a significant income source that many people rely on to provide a good portion of their retirement income. Not only that, but it's most likely going to be your only source of money that is guaranteed to last as long as you live and that has protections built in to provide automatic increases to keep pace with inflation.

You can't afford to make mistakes when it comes to your benefits, so you really should not claim without talking to an advisor. That's especially true because once you have claimed benefits early, you don't have many options for undoing this decision. You could rescind your claim, but you would have to pay back all benefits collected, and you can only do this in the first 12 months. Since many people can't do that, odds are that you're most likely stuck with the choice you make and its financial implications on your future.

Find an advisor to help with your Social Security claim

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Finding the right financial advisor will help you ensure that you make the right choices from the start with your Social Security. You'll want to make sure that you have an advisor experienced in helping with this decision and who can also work with you to create a comprehensive plan to create a financially secure retirement with a smart Social Security claiming strategy and a solid plan for withdrawing from your investments.

You don't want to get into your 70s, 80s, or 90s and find that mistakes you've made came back to haunt you, so get the right help now to set yourself up for a more secure tomorrow.

Data Shows One Habit Doubles American’s Savings And Boosts Retirement

Most Americans drastically underestimate how much they need to retire and overestimate how prepared they are. But data shows that people with one habit have more than double the savings of those who don’t.

And no, it’s got nothing to do with increasing your income, savings, clipping coupons, or even cutting back on your lifestyle. It’s much more straightforward (and powerful) than any of that. Frankly, it’s shocking more people don’t adopt the habit given how easy it is.

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Source: “AOL Money”