How advisors are planning for Social Security changes

Social Security has been at the center of a whirlwind of developments this year, and financial advisors are watching closely.

Since January, the program has generated headline after headline. Call wait times at the Social Security Administration surged in the early months of the Trump administration. 

Soon after, changes tied to the Social Security Fairness Act triggered record search interest, as roughly 3.2 million retirees with pensions from non-covered employment became newly eligible for higher benefits. At the same time, the agency briefly reinstated a controversial 100% clawback policy on overpayments — then quietly walked it back.

And that’s only part of the story. With new tax deductions for seniors, mounting concerns about the program’s long-term funding and shifting public sentiment, Social Security is once again a top-of-mind issue. Here’s how advisors are making sense of the changes, and what they’re doing to prepare clients.