Suze Orman doubles down on Social Security amid new risk | Louis Velazquez - Official Website, Entrepreneur, Finance, Technology

Delaying Social Security benefits until age 70 has long been considered one of the most effective ways to maximize retirement income.

However, updated projections show the program’s retirement trust fund could be depleted sooner than expected, raising fresh questions about the strategy for future retirees.

The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report moved the projected depletion date for the retirement trust fund to the fourth quarter of 2032.

Two days after the report’s June 9 release, Suze Orman published a blog post reaffirming her advice that waiting until age 70 remains the best claiming strategy available for most people.

She called early claiming a “permanent pay cut” and pushed back against viral social media voices urging Americans to file at age 62.

The gap between her confidence in the delay strategy and the updated trust fund calendar raises a question millions of near-retirees now need to confront.

The 2026 trustees report accelerates Social Security’s clock

The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund is projected to exhaust reserves by late 2032, one quarter earlier than last year, the trustees confirmed.

At that point, incoming payroll taxes would cover only 78% of scheduled retirement benefits, triggering an automatic 22% cut unless Congress intervenes.

The program’s 75-year funding gap climbed to 4.42% of taxable payroll, up from 3.82% a year earlier, a roughly 16% increase, as J.P. Morgan Asset Management framed it in its June 2026 analysis.

Three forces drove the deterioration: lower fertility rate projections, reduced immigration assumptions, and revenue losses tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

A typical dual-earning couple retiring at the start of 2033 would lose about $16,900 in annual benefits under the depletion scenario, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated in its July 16, 2026, analysis, which reflects the 22% cut in the Trustees Report.

Orman’s delay case and the calendar problem it now faces

Orman’s argument rests on Social Security’s delayed retirement credit, which lifts monthly benefits by roughly 8% for each year past the full retirement age.

For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67, and delaying from there to 70 boosts the monthly benefit by about 24%.

More Social Security:

For the FRA-67 cohort, that pushes the age-70 check to 124% of the primary insurance amount, with the 62-versus-70 breakeven typically landing between ages 80 and 81, according to SmartAsset.

Orman distinguishes between claiming age and retirement age, noting that drawing on a 401(k) or individual retirement account in one’s 60s can bridge the gap.

The timing problem is new: Today’s 60-year-olds would reach 67 near the projected depletion window, and those targeting 70 could arrive just after cuts begin.

Earlier projections did not create this kind of overlap between the depletion timeline and the claiming ages of a large near-retiree cohort.

Suze Orman’s strategy faces a new challenge as Social Security’s projected funding shortfall collides with key retirement claiming ages.

Taylor Hill / Getty Images

The delayed credit still works under a reduced Social Security benefit

The math that often gets missed is how the 8% credit interacts with a reduced benefit schedule after the trust fund is depleted.

The credit applies to the benefit formula itself, not a fixed dollar amount, so it multiplies whatever the final payable ratio becomes after depletion.

Under a 78% payable scenario, someone who delayed to age 70 would collect 78% of a larger base, still outpacing early filers on reduced checks, the Orman blog post showed.

Jason Fichtner, executive director of the LIMRA Retirement Income Institute and a former acting Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, said on the 401(k) Specialist podcast on June 24, 2026, that the optimal claiming strategy has not changed, despite the updated depletion timeline.

For people who can afford to delay claiming, they should do so up to age 70, because anything below age 70 is a penalty.

The advantage of delayed credits holds under every legislative outcome Congress might pursue, because the credit is embedded in the benefit formula itself.

Savings cushions are thinner for Americans who need to bridge the gap

Fichtner and Swartz have both framed the realistic delay question as one that turns less on the trust fund’s timeline and more on whether savings can cover expenses in the interim.

The personal savings rate stood at 2.7% in June 2026, down from 4.5% a year earlier, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data, a sharp reversal that weakens the financial cushion many near-retirees rely on.

Orman’s caveat about bridging income with 401(k) or IRA withdrawals assumes a savings balance fewer households may be able to sustain today.

Whether Congress acts before the depletion date adds another layer of uncertainty, Managing Director at Creative Planning Ryan Swartz told ABC News.

The Social Security Administration set the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment at 2.8% in October 2025, and each annual COLA compounds on whichever benefit level is locked in, making a higher starting amount grow faster.

What near-retirees still need to weigh for themselves

The delayed retirement credit remains one of the most reliable returns in Social Security, and its math holds at full and reduced levels, Fichtner confirmed.

Orman’s core advice survives the updated Trustees Report on the numbers, and the delay strategy still produces a higher lifetime payout under every scenario.

The timeline has shifted, 24/7 Wall St reported, and for the first time, a generation of near-retirees could see their claiming target collide with the depletion window.

Fichtner and Swartz both framed the decision as one that depends on bridge savings, health history, and how much legislative uncertainty a near-retiree is willing to hold while waiting for a permanently larger monthly check.