Most retirees do the same two things without thinking of them as a pair: claim Social Security as soon as they can, then leave the IRA alone until the government forces a withdrawal. That forced withdrawal, the required minimum distribution, starts at 73. For a decade in between, the Social Security check arrives and the IRA just keeps compounding.
That order feels safe. It also has a cost that shows up later: a bigger IRA balance means a bigger required withdrawal, taxed as ordinary income, landing in the same years your Social Security benefit is already counted as income. Reversing the order, spending from the IRA first and delaying Social Security, can be worth real money over a full retirement. It isn't automatic for everyone, so the first move is running your own numbers, not swapping one default for another.
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Why the Common Order Can Cost You Later
Here's the mechanic behind it. A traditional IRA or 401(k) that sits untouched from 62 to 73 keeps compounding, so the balance it's calculated against grows too. When the required withdrawal finally kicks in, it's based on a bigger number, and the withdrawal counts as ordinary taxable income. If your Social Security benefit is already being counted as income on the same return, the two stack, sometimes pushing you into a bracket you hadn't planned for.
The years between claiming and that first required withdrawal, usually your early-to-mid 60s, are also often your lowest-income years in retirement. Letting them pass without using any of that lower-bracket room is the part of the default order that costs the most.
What Reversing the Order Actually Looks Like
The alternative: spend from the IRA to cover expenses in the years after you stop working, and hold off on claiming Social Security. Every year you wait past full retirement age adds roughly 8 percent to your eventual benefit, up to age 70. Drawing down the IRA during those years does two things at once. It uses some of your lower tax brackets now, and it shrinks the balance your future required withdrawal will be calculated against.
This only works if the IRA can actually cover your spending for as many years as you plan to delay. Run the real number before you decide anything.
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Match the Order to Your Own Situation, Not the Average
This reversal doesn't fit everyone. If you need the Social Security check now to cover today's bills, delaying isn't realistic no matter what the math says. If your health or family history points to a shorter retirement, the delayed benefit may never pay for itself. And if your IRA is small relative to your spending, it may not survive the bridge years at all.
Where you are in the decision changes what to check next.
Turning 73: What Your First Required Minimum Distribution Means for Your Taxes walks through the required-withdrawal deadline itself, and Waiting Until 70 for Social Security: When the Math Actually Favors It covers the delayed-claiming math in more depth.
