Free Resources
Everything you need to understand and maximize your Social Security benefits
What's Your SS Personality?
Take our 2-minute quiz to discover your Social Security claiming style and get personalized recommendations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Expert answers to common questions about Social Security benefits, claiming strategies, and retirement planning.
Social Security Filing Checklist
A complete step-by-step checklist to ensure you have everything ready before filing for Social Security benefits.
Spousal Strategy Guide
Maximize your household's Social Security income with smart spousal benefit strategies.
Business Owner Optimizer
SSA uses your highest 35 years of earnings. See how raising a low W2 salary can replace low or zero years in that calculation — and what it adds to your benefit.
Myth or Fact? The Retirement Readiness Almanac
A quick game of retirement myths — Social Security, Medicare, estate planning and more. Every answer comes with a receipt linked to an official source.
State Tax Guide
See which states tax Social Security benefits and find tax-friendly states for retirement.
Discovery Library
In-depth explainers on how Social Security claiming actually works — the mechanics, the trade-offs, and the math behind them.
Social Security & Medicare 2027: Every Number in One Place
Every 2027 figure, labeled official or projected with its source — COLA, Part B, IRMAA, Part D — updated in place as each announcement lands.
Medicare Part D in 2027: What CMS Changed
CMS ended the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration and published the CY2027 bid figures. What it changes for AEP.
Social Security Claiming Timing and the IRMAA Lookback
One dollar over a threshold applies the surcharge for the whole year — and the year that sets it closed two Decembers ago.
When “Delay to 70” Breaks: Who Else Is on the Earnings Record
Auxiliary benefits attach to the worker's entitlement, so nobody collects until the worker files — and the family maximum caps the total.
To Charge or Not to Charge? Social Security Advice for Medicare Brokers
Two honest answers brokers give about Social Security advice, both right: how the claiming decision lands in your book and how to offer it, free or paid.
Pricing the Social Security Benefit-Cut Risk
What it would cost to self-fund a projected benefit cut, why 2032 and 2034 are both right, and the lever that costs nothing.
Optimal Social Security Strategy for Married Couples
For married couples, the optimal strategy maximizes the household's combined lifetime benefit — not each spouse's own check.
“Optimal” vs. “Recommended” — How MySSAgent Frames Your Strategy
There's a real difference between the optimal Social Security strategy and a recommended one, and why we show our work.
Decision Risk and Social Security Claiming
Decision risk is the only major retirement risk without a framework — and claiming is where it bites hardest.
It Pays. Just Not on the Invoice.
The retention math behind Social Security advice in an advisory practice: retention, referrals and the 92% to 22% memory gap, sourced.
SECURE 2.0's Roth Catch-Up & Your Social Security Tax
How SECURE 2.0's forced-Roth catch-up rule, effective 2026, quietly changes how high earners' benefits are taxed.
Claiming Social Security Early for Your Healthiest Years
Healthspan-aware claiming: when front-loading benefits into your healthiest years is the better trade.
The “2,728 SSA Rules” Myth, Explained
Where the “2,728 rules” number actually comes from, and what genuinely makes Social Security complex.
RSSA vs. Financial Advisor: Which One Do You Need?
Neither title is required by any regulator. What an RSSA® is, what a financial advisor is and isn't trained on, and five questions that matter more than either.