The settings here determine if and how Social Security is included in the analysis.

Include Social Security

Determines if Social Security is included in the illustration. (See the FAQ entry for Social Security for more information on how Social Security is calculated).

Social Security Starts

Select the method (either Retirement Age or No Penalty Age) for starting Social Security. Social Security will not start before age 62.

Percent of inflation that Social Security increases (pre-retirement)

TRAK trends the Social Security inflation rate for the last 20 years. A 100% value here will use the historical average. Decreasing this percentage (e.g. 90%) may result in a significant reduction in Social Security income at retirement for younger clients.

Percent of the calculated Social Security value to use (at retirement)

Enter the percent of the calculated Social Security to use for the projections. This allows for being conservative in the amount of income the client will receive from Social Security.

Percent of inflation that Social Security increases (during retirement)

Enter the percent of inflation that the calculator should use during retirement in calculating Social Security. For example, if a value of 80 is entered here, TRAK will use 80% of the inflation that is being illustrated for retirement inflation (unless this value is greater than the maximum inflation for Social Security, as will be discussed next).