Social Security benefits supplement retirement income for millions of Americans, so it's important for financial advisors to have extensive knowledge about the program. Advisors who go a step further and use Social Security planning software have a competitive edge over those who don't. Social Security optimizers can illustrate the value of a smart claiming decision. Covisum Founder and President, Joe Elsasser, CFP®, examines this further in the latest issue of Perspectives magazine.

"When clients can visualize the dollar difference between claiming strategies, your words have more meaning. Some software allows you to compare more than one claiming strategy side-by-side, so clients can clearly see the difference. This feature is incredibly helpful, especially for married clients. Whenever you have more than one Social Security benefit in a retirement strategy, claiming decisions get more complex. Software can help you examine each benefit separately and in the context of the whole financial plan, to help you determine the optimal time to claim each benefit. Clear claiming instructions, especially when you have more than one benefit, can make a big difference."

Read the Perspectives magazine article in its entirety here.