Store / The Social Security Claiming Worksheet
Decide when each of you files for Social Security, and what you live on in between.
Three filing dates, one household. How to decide when each of you files, and what to live on in between.
“When should each of us file, and what do we live on until then?”
- Instant download
- 30-day refund
- Secure checkout by Stripe
Or get all five for $147.
What you get
- The month-by-month arithmetic of early reduction and delayed credits, in full
- Break-even tables at three benefit levels, with and without a cost-of-living assumption
- The provisional income torpedo: where an extra dollar is taxed at an effective 22.2%
- A worked married-couple example, three strategies scored at survivor ages 85, 90 and 95
- Two fill-in worksheets: your three filing dates, and your gap-year income plan
- A printed decision checklist and the exact questions to hand a tax professional
Look inside
These are pages from the actual file, not mockups.
Everything it covers
- The decision you are actually making
- Three decisions, not one
- The arithmetic, month by month
- Break-even, honestly
- The tax interaction nobody shows you
- What the 50% spousal rule really means
- The higher earner's date is the survivor decision
- The earnings test is a deferral
- Worked example: one couple, three strategies
- Worksheet: your three filing dates
- Worksheet: your gap-year income plan
- When the standard answer is wrong
- Your decision checklist
Questions before you buy
How do I get it?
Checkout is handled by Stripe. As soon as your payment goes through you land on the download page, and the files are yours to keep.
What if it is not useful to me?
There is a 30-day refund. If it does not help, ask for your money back.
Do I need Excel?
Only for the workbook, which opens in Excel. The PDF stands on its own: every worksheet is printed in it, so you can do the whole thing with a pen.
Is this advice for my situation?
No. It is education: the rules, the tables, and the arithmetic, so you can run your own numbers. It is not tax, legal or investment advice. If you want someone to look at your situation with you, book a free second opinion.
Which tax year is it built on?
This is the 2026 edition. Every table uses 2026 figures, and each one names the government source it came from.
After you buy
Bring the filled worksheet to a free call and I will check your numbers.
Thirty minutes, in person at a Fidelity Bank branch, by phone or by video. You bring the worksheet and one statement; I check the figure line by line against your situation and you leave with the three things worth doing next, in writing. No charge, and nothing moves unless you decide it should.
James Ustby, CFP®, APMA® · wrote every page
All five guides for $147.
Bought one at a time they come to $205. The library is every guide and every workbook in one download.