Social Security Benefits

Net Worth Navigator does not have a built-in Social Security calculation engine. You provide your own benefit estimates, which you can get directly from the Social Security Administration.

Getting Your Estimates

Visit ssa.gov/myaccount and log in to your Social Security account. Once inside:

1. Go to the “Estimate Your Future Benefits” section
2. Review your estimated monthly benefit at full retirement age (67 for most people)
3. The SSA also provides estimates for early retirement (age 62) and delayed retirement (age 70)

For the most accurate modeling, you’ll want estimates at each age from 62 to 70. The SSA calculator may let you enter a specific claim age to see the adjusted amount — enter each age and record the monthly benefit.

Entering Benefits in Your Scenario

Once you have your estimates, open your scenario TOML file (or use the Raw TOML tab in the Setup Panel). Find the [person1] section and add a social_security_benefits sub-table:

[person1.social_security_benefits]
"62" = 1700   # estimated monthly benefit if claimed at 62
"63" = 1840
"64" = 1990
"65" = 2130
"66" = 2280
"67" = 2440   # full retirement age benefit
"68" = 2640
"69" = 2840
"70" = 3080   # maximum benefit (delayed credits stop here)

Do the same for [person2] if you’re modeling a couple:

[person2.social_security_benefits]
"62" = 1100
"63" = 1180
"64" = 1270
"65" = 1360
"66" = 1460
"67" = 1550
"68" = 1670
"69" = 1800
"70" = 1950

Then add a SocialSecurity event for the age you plan to claim. In the Setup Panel’s Events tab, adding a SocialSecurity event asks for an age, not a year — the panel computes and stores the corresponding year for you from that age and the person’s dob. Hand-editing TOML directly looks like:

[[events]]
enabled = true
type    = "SocialSecurity"
label   = "SS Begins (M)"
person  = "person1"
year    = 2037   # birth_year + claiming age (e.g. 1970 + 67)

How the Model Uses This Data

• The SocialSecurity event’s year is the source of truth for SS timing — not a person-level field. Your claiming age is worked out from year minus your dob’s birth year.

• social_security_benefits — a table mapping each claim age (62–70) to the estimated monthly benefit. The model looks this up fresh every time it’s needed, for your resolved claiming age — the benefit amount is never stored on the event itself. That means updating this table later (a new SSA estimate, say) takes effect immediately without touching the event.

• Missing benefit data is a hard error, not a silent $0. If a SocialSecurity event exists but social_security_benefits has no entry for the resolved claiming age (or the table is missing entirely), the scenario fails validation with a clear message instead of quietly modeling no Social Security income.

• Widow/er step-up — when one partner passes away (end-of-plan year), the survivor steps up to the deceased partner’s benefit if it is higher. The survivor’s own benefit is replaced starting at survivor_ss_start_age (default: 60).

Starter Templates

The starter.toml and starter-couple.toml files include a commented guide for Social Security:

# Social Security benefit by claim age (get your estimate at ssa.gov/myaccount)
[person1.social_security_benefits]
67 = 0   # ← YOUR VALUE: estimated monthly benefit at your claim age

The sample scenarios (sample.toml, sample-couples.toml, sample-a.toml, sample-b.toml) include fully populated example benefit tables — look at them for reference if you’re unsure about the format.

What the Model Does NOT Do

Net Worth Navigator does not calculate or adjust Social Security benefits. It does not:

• Apply the Social Security earnings test or bend-point formulas
• Model spousal or divorced-spouse benefits
• Apply WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) or GPO (Government Pension Offset)
• Adjust benefits for early/late retirement beyond the estimates you provide
• Predict COLAs (cost-of-living adjustments) — use today’s dollars and let the model’s inflation setting handle purchasing power

For any of the above, consult the Social Security Administration or a financial planner.