If you are worried about Social Security and want to model a future reduction to benefits, here is how to do it in the Boldin Planner, depending on your current situation:
Not yet collecting Social Security and plan to claim after 2033
If you are not yet collecting benefits and plan to claim your benefits after 2033, you can:
Navigate to Planner > Income > Social Security in the Planner and decrease your Full Retirement Age (FRA) benefit by the percentage you predict benefits will be reduced. (Current projections suggest a 23% reduction. However, you can model different percentages.)
Already collecting Social Security
If you are already collecting Social Security benefits and want to model a future reduction, you can:
Navigate to Planner > Income > Social Security in the Boldin Planner and state that you will not receive Social Security benefits.
Go to Planner > Income > Pensions and enter your current Social Security benefit as a pension that starts today and runs through 2033. Set the COLA to the historical Social Security COLA average.
Then, enter a second pension at the reduced Social Security benefit income to start in 2033 and run through your lifetime. Set the COLA to the historical Social Security COLA average.
You may also wish to make adjustments to the tax treatment, depending upon your situation. Entering the benefit subject to Federal tax is a conservative model.
Plan to start Social Security benefits prior to 2033
If you plan to start Social benefits prior to 2033 and want to model a reduction in 2033, you should:
Navigate to Planner > Income > Social Security in the Boldin Planner and state that you will not receive Social Security benefits.
Go to Planner > Income > Pensions and enter your Social Security benefit, starting at your projected start date and running through 2033. Set the COLA to the historical Social Security COLA average.
Then, enter a second pension at the reduced Social Security benefit income to run through your lifetime. Set the COLA to the historical Social Security COLA average.
You may also wish to make adjustments to the tax treatment, depending upon your situation. Entering the benefit subject to Federal tax is a conservative model.
See Coach Nancy demonstrate how to turn off your Social Security benefit.