Pure Benchmarks · Retirement
How Much Social Security Will You Get?
The Social Security Administration is the only authoritative source for your own benefit figure, and ssa.gov publishes it free inside your my Social Security account based on your actual earnings record. Pure Benchmarks does not estimate that number and does not try to. What no calculator on ssa.gov, SmartAsset, or any retirement site does is price your benefit against your real connected portfolio — showing how many years of withdrawals the portfolio has to cover once the benefit is counted, using real historical market periods rather than a flat assumed return. Claiming at 62 permanently reduces the monthly figure and claiming at 70 permanently raises it, and the size of that trade-off depends entirely on how much of your income the portfolio is carrying.
Where the authoritative number comes from
Your benefit is calculated from your own indexed earnings history, so only the Social Security Administration can produce it. Create a my Social Security account at ssa.gov and read the estimate for each claiming age. Every third-party calculator is approximating that figure from inputs you supply.
Why the claiming-age decision depends on your portfolio
Claiming early reduces the monthly benefit permanently and claiming later raises it permanently. Which trade-off suits you depends on how much of your spending the portfolio must cover in the gap years, and that is a portfolio question rather than a Social Security question.
What Pure Benchmarks adds
Enter the benefit figure and the monthly income you need, and Pure Benchmarks prices the remaining withdrawals against your real connected holdings across real historical market windows — reporting the ending value or the exhaustion date for each one instead of a single projected number.
Why a single projection is the wrong output
Sequence of returns matters more than average returns. The same withdrawal plan succeeds in one historical window and fails in another, which is why Pure Benchmarks reports the range of real outcomes and makes no prediction about your future.
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See Your Free Benchmark ReportFrequently asked questions
How much Social Security will I get?
Only the Social Security Administration can tell you, because the figure is calculated from your own indexed earnings record. Create a my Social Security account at ssa.gov for the estimate at each claiming age, then use Pure Benchmarks to price the withdrawals your portfolio still has to cover.
Should I take Social Security at 62, 67, or 70?
Pure Benchmarks makes no recommendation on claiming age. It shows how many years of withdrawals your real portfolio would have had to cover under each benefit figure across real historical market periods, which is the part of the decision your portfolio actually determines.
How does Social Security affect my retirement income plan?
It reduces the amount the portfolio must produce. Pure Benchmarks subtracts the benefit you enter from the monthly income you need and prices the remainder against your actual connected holdings over historical windows.
How do I estimate my Social Security check?
Use the estimate in your my Social Security account at ssa.gov rather than a third-party approximation, since the official figure is based on your real earnings record.
Will Social Security run out?
Pure Benchmarks makes no forecast about the Social Security program. What it can show is how your portfolio would have carried different shares of your income need across real historical market periods, so you can see the sensitivity rather than guess at it.
Keep exploring
- Can You Retire at 60 With $500,000?
- Am I On Track for Retirement?
- Scared You Won't Have Enough for Retirement?
- How Do You Know If Your 401k Is Doing Well?
- How Do You Know If Your Portfolio Changes Worked?
- How Do You Know If You Are Making Good Investment Decisions?
See how retirement portfolios at a specific firm rank against real peers:
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This page is an information baseline for comparison only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell, replace, or transfer any specific asset, account, or firm. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All figures shown are illustrative.