CalcStack — free, instant, no signup. The interactive calculator loads automatically.
Delaying 62→70 costs $147,840 of portfolio and buys a 9.6% COLA-protected payout — the cheapest annuity in America.
Every "should I delay Social Security" article argues about breakeven ages; few answer the actual question: what does delaying cost my portfolio, and what does it buy? The bridge calculator frames it as a transaction. Delaying from 62 to 70 means covering $1,540 a month from savings for 96 months — a $147,840 bridge on a $2,200 PIA — in exchange for $14,256 more per year, for life, adjusted for inflation. That's a 9.6% implicit payout rate on the bridge money, backed by a government COLA, when no commercial annuity at 70 comes close. The breakeven is age 80.4; median life expectancy at 62 is 82–85. This calculator prices YOUR bridge: the checks you'd skip, the income they'd buy, the breakeven age, and the payout rate — for any claiming pair from 62 to 70.
Pre-retirees use it when "should I delay" gets abstract: delaying 62→70 is a $147,840 portfolio bridge that buys a 9.6% COLA-protected payout for life — breakeven 80.4, and no commercial annuity at 70 matches it.
Because that's what it is, mechanically. Both convert a lump of savings into guaranteed lifetime income — and Social Security's "annuity" is actuarially cheap: 8% per year of delay (plus forgone-check value), inflation-adjusted, backed by the US government, with survivor benefits attached. A $147,840 single-premium immediate annuity for a 70-year-old pays roughly $11,000–$13,000 a year without a full CPI adjustment; delaying buys $14,256 a year WITH one for the same money. Economists (Shiller, among others) have called delaying the best annuity deal available — the bridge calculator just makes the price tag explicit so you can judge whether you can afford the purchase.
Then claiming early was the better deal for you — breakeven math is honest about that. Three things soften it. First, joint life: for a married couple, the relevant horizon is the SECOND death, and the higher earner's bigger check becomes the survivor's check — delaying protects the widow(er) for decades. Second, breakeven on total dollars isn't the whole story; the bigger late-life check is insurance against outliving savings, which matters most exactly when portfolios are depleted. Third, the middle path: delay to 67 or 68 captures much of the gain with a smaller bridge — run 62→67 above ($92,400 bridge, 11.7-year payback) and compare.
From wherever is tax-smartest — and here's the part that makes the strategy sing: the bridge years are also your Roth-conversion sweet spot. Income is low (no benefits yet, no RMDs), so you can fill the 12% or 22% bracket with conversions while drawing the bridge from taxable accounts at capital-gains rates. The two moves compound: delay raises guaranteed income, conversions shrink future RMDs, and both cut the taxes on Social Security later (up to 85% of benefits become taxable above the provisional-income thresholds). Spending IRA money for the bridge while converting is counterproductive — that keeps ordinary income high; taxable or cash accounts first.