Drawing Down Retirement Wealth: Interactions between Social Security Wealth and Private Retirement Savings

This document is about how households integrate Social Security benefits into their overall retirement income planning. The authors use Health and Retirement Study survey data matched to Social Security administrative data to study differences in non-Social Security retirement asset decumulation patterns across individuals who claim Social Security benefits at different ages. They find that those claiming before the full retirement age draw down pension and IRA wealth faster than later claimants. The authors also analyze how claiming behavior varies by non-Social Security retirement wealth holdings and how the rising full retirement age has affected retirement decision-making, finding that wealthier households tend to delay both Social Security claiming and drawing down non-Social Security retirement assets.