phdsteve, thanks for taking the time to respond.Fair point. Thank you for raising the issue. I'm not sure there is a one right way to model this since the timing and order of passing are unpredictable. One might, for example, have each spouse's SS continue until a specific age, or a percentile of their longevity. But the couple's longevity (time at which at least one is alive) is necessarily longer than the longevity for either one as individuals. Other modeling choices have similar trade-offs. One could also compute the statistical expectation of the benefit for each year, but that is only truly meaningful for a large population, not a household of 2.The last input in Step 1 "Retirement Planning and SS" is time horizon (final year in plan). I inputted a last to die year for the remaining spouse as I'm married. But there is no option that I can see to enter a year for the first to die person. So their income calc includes both social security payments coming in till age 90, the end of plan. I'm very confident at least one of us will pass years prior to that.
What would be the most helpful way to model this uncertain tapering of total SS benefit for you?
Yes, timing of passing is unpredictable however we here are all putting a final date on it. That is necessary to calculate our SWR. (You do ask for the year in your calculator.) So we must guess, and many pick near age 90 or beyond to be conservative; don't want to run out if life goes on longer than expected.
I'd say 99% of the time couples do not pass within the same year. One will most likely die years before the other. Initially when inputting my data I reasoned you should have a date field to estimate the year of the other spouse passing. Or, a number field to indicate how many years prior the first to die would pass. However, after more thought I now am of mixed opinion as to whether trying to figure a solution would be material. (It is irrelevant which spouse dies first, no need to make that call! Whichever it is, the income would be the same: lower SS amount disappears from income.)
If one spouse dies 10 years prior to end of plan, losing that SS income near the very end of the plan would not be as material as losing that same income amount for 10 years at the start of retirement due to the decades of lost compounding. So yes, money is lost (and also the tax brackets change). But we retirees must also estimate stock market returns over the future decades, and we will most likely be off by multiple %'s. That variance would dwarf a SS benefit stopping a few years early so far into the future. So I'm know thinking I am content with the existing layout of your data inputs.
Just my thoughts,Thanks!
Statistics: Posted by gln2 — Sun Jan 11, 2026 9:40 am — Replies 63 — Views 6103