Every number on this page has a trace. Open one and you get the rule, the source, and the arithmetic — not a citation, the actual working.
Worked example · computed live · published rules
Can we both stop working at the same time?
Watch the model organize one couple’s finances — and show why California takes almost nothing from their Social Security.
One year of their retirement, at 72
$58,800
Social Security received
$170/yr
California tax on it
Dana and Marcus want to pay what they owe and no more — they just cannot tell which of the rules are theirs. Three systems get a say in a Social Security dollar. Only California’s answer is not zero this year, and its $170 is on the small withdrawal, not on the benefit.
One dollar, three rules
The danger is not a rule anyone gets wrong. It is a rule everyone half-knows. Two of those three answers are zero — and the difference between a zero that was calculated and a zero that was assumed is the whole of this report. Those zeros belong to this year and these figures, not to the rule: they are a result, not a property of being retired in California. Half a rule feels like knowing right up until the year it stops being true, which is why the model runs all three, in every year of the plan.
Dana & Marcus Whitfield
62 and 60, Sacramento, California
Dana and Marcus are 62 and 60, both still working in Sacramento. Neither has a pension, so Social Security and a shared $520,000 have to carry the whole of retirement.
What they have
- Taxable
- $95,000
- Tax-deferred
- $360,000
- Tax Advantage (Roth)
- $65,000
- Social Security at 67
- $2,850/mo + $2,050/mo
- Still working
- $78,000 + $62,000
- Spending
- $5,900/mo
- Health cover before Medicare
- $1,150/mo
What they’re asking
Can we actually both stop at the same time, or does one of us keep working?
Marcus turns 65 two years after Dana. What do we do about his insurance in between?
Does California tax our Social Security? Everyone tells us something different.
They are here because they are ordinary. No unusual assets, no complicated benefits, nothing to show off — which makes them the right household to check our arithmetic against, because every figure on their report traces back to a rule you can go and read.
The report works through these in its own order. Every one of them is answered — the answers are gathered at the end.
Run the numbers.
The full report is below, computed in your browser from exactly the figures above. Nothing is withheld and nothing is a screenshot — the controls in it work, and moving one re-runs the whole projection.
Marcus turns 65 two years after Dana. Watch the health cost change shape twice: once when she moves to Medicare, again when he does.
At 72 they draw about $58,800 of Social Security and pay roughly $170 a year in California tax. California does not tax Social Security at all — the state bill is on the deferred withdrawal beside it, and nothing else.
You now know enough to know who to call
A CFP, or a Social Security claiming specialist
“How should we sequence our two claims to protect whichever of us is left?”
We compare claim ages on the figures entered here, but sequencing two people’s claims to maximise a survivor benefit needs both full earnings records, which we do not hold.
Their questions, answered
What the report told them
Every figure below comes from the report above — nothing here is worked out separately, and each answer links to the stop that shows how it was reached.
“Can we actually both stop at the same time, or does one of us keep working?”
You can, and the plan holds on a steady return — but the first five years carry all of the risk. Stopping together in 2028 means your savings cover every dollar of the $84,600 you spend that year, including the health premium, with no Social Security at all until 2031 and no second benefit until 2033. On an 8% return the money reaches 100 with $68,689 left. Under the 300-path stress test, 125 of them last that long — 42%. Working to 2030 instead: 80%. That is a difference between two cases you chose, not a recommendation.
“Marcus turns 65 two years after Dana. What do we do about his insurance in between?”
You cover him privately for two years, and it is the most expensive stretch in the plan. Dana moves to Medicare in 2029; Marcus is not eligible until 2031, so his share of the $1,150/mo premium runs on through 2029 and 2030 while Dana pays Part B alongside it. No subsidy helps here — the credit is worked out from the previous year’s income, and in 2027 you were still earning.
“Does California tax our Social Security? Everyone tells us something different.”
No. California taxes none of it. At 72 you draw about $58,800 a year of benefit and pay roughly $170 a year in California tax — and that $170 is on the withdrawal beside it, not on the benefit. Federally it is different again: part of that same benefit is taxable under the provisional-income rule, and all of it counts toward the Medicare surcharge test. One dollar, three sets of rules, and the trace shows each one.
What we could not tell them
Almost nothing, in their case — they answered every question, so every result on their report is marked Complete. That is what a fully evidenced plan looks like, and it is rarer than it should be.
Your turn
Dana and Marcus answered every question we asked, so every result on their report is marked Complete. Yours can be too.
Or read another household. Each one reaches a different limit.
- Can I retire at 62, three years before Medicare?Three years to Medicare, and a subsidy cliff that arrives a year after the decision that caused it.
- What happens to me if he goes first?A pension election made seven years ago, still deciding the shape of the plan.
- Can I stay in the house on a survivor benefit?Two of her three questions have answers. The third has a phone number.
- We think we’re fine. Are we?The arithmetic works. The report still will not tell them it does.
- How long will my savings actually last?The model will not flatter him, and no single change fixes it.