Mark Henry of Alloy Wealth has spent his career navigating the complexities of investing, retirement, and estate planning. He was inspired to master finance after watching his father lose half of his retirement savings during a stock market downturn in the 1980s. Henry went on to study a range of wealth-generation and wealth-management strategies before founding Alloy Wealth, a retirement, estate, and investment planning firm. Working with a team of experienced professionals, he provides clients with retirement plans tailored to their personal circumstances, budgets, and goals.
The Three-Bucket Approach
Henry and his team at Alloy Wealth create written retirement plans around a “three-bucket” approach to personal finance. After helping clients save and invest throughout their careers, the team allocates their assets into three categories at retirement: long-term, wealth-generating investments; short-term, relatively liquid investments; and cash reserves used to provide monthly income, similar to a paycheck. The goal is a sustainable, regular stream of income that helps clients maintain the lifestyle they built while working.
A Voice for Financial Literacy
Financial literacy is central to effective saving and investing, and it’s something Henry and his Alloy Wealth team actively promote to clients and the general public alike. To help people better understand finance, budgeting, and investing, Henry regularly takes speaking engagements and appears as a guest expert on television, radio, and podcasts. He also hosts a blog and YouTube channel called Living Large Retirement, where he answers audience questions and covers a range of finance topics.
How Social Security Benefits Are Calculated
A recent post on the Living Large Retirement blog addressed the question of when to begin claiming Social Security retirement benefits. Social Security is a federal program in the United States that provides retirement and other benefits; employees, employers, and self-employed individuals pay into it throughout their careers, and those funds support current retirees. Workers need to meet age guidelines and earn 40 credits—equal to 10 years of work—to claim Social Security. The amount a person receives in benefits is based on their 35 highest-earning years, adjusted for inflation, not simply their earnings history in general.
Why Timing Matters
When to begin claiming Social Security is an important question for retirees because the answer affects how much they ultimately collect. Retirees can start claiming Social Security as early as age 62, but doing so permanently reduces their monthly benefit—by up to roughly 30 percent compared to what they’d receive at full retirement age (FRA), or 66–67, depending on birth year.
However, the benefit permanently increases each month beyond FRA the person waits to claim Social Security. For example, a person born in 1943 or later will permanently increase their benefit by about 0.66 percent each month they wait to claim, or 8 percent per year. Benefits increase in this way until age 70.
Note that claiming early doesn’t just shrink the monthly check; for someone who retires from the workforce at the same time, it also cuts short the years of income and savings that could otherwise strengthen their overall retirement picture.
When Claiming Early Can Make Sense
By waiting beyond FRA—up to age 70—people can continue building their careers and savings, and lock in a larger monthly benefit once they do file. This is generally considered the stronger long-term strategy, but early claiming can make sense in certain situations:
· someone in poor health with a shorter life expectancy who wants to maximize the total number of years they collect benefits
· someone facing limited job prospects in their early 60s
· someone without substantial retirement savings who needs the income sooner.
The Value of Professional Guidance
Because the decision of when to claim Social Security depends on so many personal factors, it’s worth working with a professional retirement advisor. A qualified advisor can help evaluate the trade-offs and, if acting as a fiduciary, is legally obligated to act in the client’s best interest—making them a valuable part of any retirement planning team.
