The Formynder Field Manual

August 2026

From the Field

It's that time of the year again when you can feel the anticipation of Fall and all of the events that go with it. School will be back in session shortly. Fantasy football league emails and texts are going out. You're re-recruiting your league from last year, hoping to turn over the toilet bowl to someone else, (or maybe that's just me).

Here at Formynder, it's the calm before the Fall storm. August is the time just before we start reviewing your developed but evolving financial plans. We prepare to execute any tax strategies we've developed, and take advantage of that new healthcare benefit during open enrollment. [NERD ALERT!]

Let me take a moment to welcome new readers to the Formynder family! I send this newsletter out on the first of each month, usually with a little bit about what's going on personally and a few areas of financial education or insights for you to consider. It's my way of staying connected with you, sharing some thoughts you might relate to, and perhaps spark a new idea for something you'd like to try in your own life (or not).

The BLUF

I know you'll want to read the entire newsletter, but here's a preview of what's included in this month's edition:

✅ Feel Good Moment California love!

✅ Social Security 101 And 102.... and probably 201.

✅ Market corner July! What did you do?!

✅ In plain site. Some of the other places you'll find my musings.

Feel Good Moments

As always, I like to start with gratitude, identifying those moments in my life that make every day worth waking up for.

This past month, I've really started to develop what it looks like to balance work and travel. Some of you may know that my wife and I are originally from California, up near Yosemite in a small town called Sonora. It's been in the news lately - Google "Dove Fire".

My parents have since moved from my childhood home in Sonora to Citrus Heights, to be a bit closer to my youngest sister. I spent a little over a week there visiting them, my two sisters, and my brother, whom I've not seen for many years. While there, I kept up with work, The Fiscal Foxhole podcast, and even my Chicago marathon training schedule. (BTW, low humidity in California versus gross humidity in Virginia... there's no comparison.)

Quite frankly, it feels feels a bit surreal when you have dreamed about being able to travel, work, and play all in one trip, and then it starts to become reality. I won't lie and say that it was perfect, but I certainly feel like I am learning how to balance all three quite nicely.

One highlight while there was playing disc golf with my BIL. I've never played before and thought, "how hard can this be?" Cue the raised eyebrow. My BIL brought out a buggy - yes, a buggy - full of different sized discs, both in weight and circumference. There were the long throw discs, the putter discs, and the discs you wanted to maneuver around the trees. I have a newfound respect for the activity and actually, may have found a new activity for my wife and I to try together! Perhaps this is something you already do, but if not I would highly recommend you give it a shot! (Pun intended)

Social Security is in the News... Again

Every year, the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) Trustees release a status report of how each trust is doing. If you didn't know, OASI is the trust behind social security benefits and DI is the trust behind social security disability. The report for 2026 is out and I thought it might be a good time to talk through not only the report, but how financial planners consider social security when building it into your future plans. You can read the report, or a summary of it, here.

It’s likely that you’ve at least heard of Social Security – as a military member or federal employee, you pay into it. While many people consider claiming as soon as they are eligible, usually age 62, there actually is a strategy built around claiming Social Security that takes advantage of the very rules governing the program.

Your Full Retirement Age Isn’t the “Right” Age, It’s Just the Reference Point

For most of you reading this, Full Retirement Age (FRA) is 67. That’s the age where if you decide to claim, you collect 100% of your calculated Social Security benefit. What’s your estimated benefit? Most of you have already done this exercise with me so let me remind you. You can find your own estimate by creating your account or logging on to ssa.gov and downloading your benefits estimate statement. It’s a rather simple document with an income ladder from age 62, the earliest you can claim your benefit, to age 70, which is the latest. What you’ll notice immediately is the monthly income difference between claiming at 62 and claiming at 70. And thus begins our strategy.

Claim before FRA, as early as 62, and you lock in a permanent reduction, down to 30% of your full benefit, for the rest of your life. That reduction is prorated by month, so the closer you are to FRA when you claim, the smaller the cut.

Claim after FRA and the math runs the other direction. You earn delayed retirement credits worth 8% growth per year, every year, until age 70. Credits stop accumulating at 70, so there’s no financial reason to wait any longer than that.

Put the two ends of that spread next to each other and the difference is significant.

Why Waiting Until 70 Is Usually the Default

Let me backup and start with the broader picture. What do you think the biggest concern is from every retiree when it comes to financial security? If you guessed, "will I run out of money?" you are spot on. As a planner, I am looking at your sources of projected income; whether that is a pension, disability, social security, or your investments; and comparing it against your projected expenses to see what the difference is.

When I am projecting income, the easiest and most valuable types are those "guaranteed payments," especially if they inflate. Military and federal pensions meet that definition, but so does social security. The most difficult type of income to project is investment income. Sure, we can build in expectations from historical performance, but you never know. So, with those two income planning considerations, let's talk about the timing strategy behind starting social security.

For most clients, especially younger ones still years out from claiming, I start the conversation with a default strategy of waiting until 70. It rewards patience with the highest monthly check, inflated, that you can get for the rest of your life. If you are married, this same check stays with the survivor (see below).

This strategy works best when there’s bridge income to cover the years between retirement and age 70. Your TSP, IRAs, a taxable account, or even part-time work, can carry the load so Social Security doesn’t have to start early. It’s important to understand that if you do use investments, your subjecting yourself to sequence of returns risk. But keep in mind that by leaning on your investments for a limited number of years, you can reduce pressure, if necessary, once you begin claiming a larger Social Security monthly benefit.

If you have a spouse, the strategy changes slightly, but becomes much more flexible. The higher earner generally still wants to push toward 70, because that locks in the bigger number for survivor benefits down the road. The lower earner often doesn’t need to wait past FRA, since their own benefit gets capped by spousal-benefit rules anyway, up to 50% of the higher earner’s FRA amount. Waiting past FRA on their own record usually doesn’t add much. A lot of households do best by having one spouse go long and the other claim closer to FRA. I'll note that if the lower earner claims earlier than FRA, their payment, even with the spousal 50% top-off, will still be reduced by whatever calculated amount comes from claiming early.

When The Default Strategy Doesn't Make Sense

The further you are from age 62, the harder it is to know what's right for your situation. But as age 62 gets closer, life has a way of changing the math. It's tempting to assume the physical stamina of your 20s carries into your 50s and 60s. For most people, it doesn't. The shift from go-go years to slow-go or no-go years can happen faster than expected.

Financial planners typically build retirement projections conservatively, often assuming a client lives to at least age 95. Nobody knows their actual timeline, but certain signals, some rooted in family health history, some showing up in your own life right now, can point toward a shorter horizon than 95, or even 85.

In those cases, claiming early and putting the money you've already earned to work sooner can make more sense than waiting. Spending time with family and friends while you're able to enjoy it carries real value. Will claiming early mean a smaller monthly check down the road? In many cases, yes. But your life only happens once, and for clients showing these signals, using the benefit sooner rather than later is worth serious consideration.

One Reason People Might Claim Early That I’d Push Back On

Returning to the recent trustees report, its headline finding is that the OASI Trust Fund is projected to run out of reserves in the fourth quarter of 2032. "I need to claim it before Congress cuts it" is a real statement clients bring up, and the instinct behind it is understandable. It just doesn't hold up under closer examination.

To be clear, nobody can predict the future with certainty. That said, history offers a useful reference point: the last time Social Security faced a similar shortfall. In 1983, reforms were enacted well ahead of that era's projected depletion date, and full retirement age has only recently finished phasing up to 67 as a result of those changes.

For context, the Social Security Administration currently projects the OASI Trust Fund is solvent through 2032. After that, without changes from Congress, the program could still cover roughly 78% of scheduled benefits, not zero. Congress has several levers available to close that gap:

• raising the payroll tax
• raising or eliminating the wage cap on taxable earnings
• adjusting benefits for higher earners
• raising the retirement age
• taxing a larger share of benefits

Any combination of those could close the shortfall without touching the benefit amount a retiree is counting on today.

The 1983 reforms offer a relevant precedent here too. Benefits were not changed for people already claiming Social Security at the time, and new requirements were phased in gradually for those still approaching retirement. It's reasonable to expect a similar approach if Congress acts again: current beneficiaries largely protected, changes phased in for those with more runway before retirement.

Even in a worst-case scenario, where Congress voted to reduce benefits for those currently or about to receive them, any future benefit reduction would apply to whatever amount a retiree is already receiving. This means that a larger base built by waiting until 70, even after a potential future cut, generally still outperforms a smaller check locked in early. Claiming at 62 to hedge against a possible future reduction means accepting a permanent 30% cut today, in exchange for protection against a cut that may never happen, or one that ends up smaller than the reduction a retiree just handed themselves voluntarily.

Again, none of this means claiming early is always the wrong call. I've named legitimate reasons to do it. In addition to health problems, a job loss or forced separation with no bridge income to cover the gap, or simply needing the income now, are all real, practical reasons to claim early. Fear of a headline isn't.

What This Looks Like With a Military or Federal Pension in the Mix

Here’s where it gets encouraging for a lot of you. Stack a military or federal pension, Social Security, and a potential VA disability benefit together and you start to see a floor of guaranteed, inflation-adjusted income that most civilians never get close to.

As an example: a $5,000 monthly pension, $3,500 in Social Security, and $3,000 in disability adds up to $11,500 a month in guaranteed income for life, and that’s before your investments even enter the picture.

Take a minute and compare that to your current income and how you’re living off it today. For a lot of families, that guaranteed floor changes the entire conversation around risk in retirement.

The Takeaway

It helps to think of Social Security as an insurance product that closely resembles an annuity with an inflation rider. Investing that money independently might well produce a higher return over time. That was never really the point of the program, though, and that comparison also overlooks the other protections built into Social Security, like survivor and disability benefits.

A Social Security claiming strategy is a personal decision, shaped by health, a spouse's situation, other income sources, and individual comfort with risk. There are legitimate reasons to claim early and legitimate reasons to wait. What matters most is not letting a scary headline drive a permanent decision that doesn't actually serve the retiree making it.

A Look at the Recent Markets

July gave us a good reminder of why we build portfolios the way we do. Stocks bounced around quite a bit this month. The S&P 500 dipped and recovered several times, technology stocks swung sharply from one week to the next, and a strong earnings report from Microsoft helped spark one of the best single days for tech stocks in over a year. Even with all that movement, the S&P 500 is still up close to 9 percent so far this year.

The Federal Reserve also met this month and decided, for the fifth meeting in a row, to leave interest rates unchanged. A few members wanted to raise rates given some recent inflation pressure, mostly tied to energy prices. Bond yields moved up a bit in response, with the 10 year Treasury sitting near 4.65 percent. None of this changes our approach. Short term rate decisions and monthly inflation reports are simply not something a long term investor needs to react to.

What This Means For You

If you looked at your account this week and saw it move around, that is completely normal. Markets go up and down every single day. What matters for your financial future is not what happened this week, but what happens over the next 5, 10, or 20 years. Our entire approach is built around that timeframe, not the daily headlines.

This is exactly why we do not try to guess which stock, sector, or country will do best next. Nobody can predict that with any consistency, not even the professionals who spend all day trying. Instead, your portfolio is built to own a broad slice of the market, across large companies, smaller companies, and international companies, along with a mix of bonds suited to your goals and comfort with risk. When technology stocks are having a rough week, other parts of your portfolio are often doing just fine, and that balance is the whole point.

A Gentle Reminder

Months like this one can feel unsettling if you are watching the headlines closely. Our advice is the same as always: stay the course. Markets have weathered wars, elections, recessions, and everything in between, and have still rewarded patient, disciplined investors over time. Your plan already accounts for this kind of movement. There is nothing to do differently right now except continue what you are already doing.

As always, if you have questions about your account, your goals, or anything happening in the news, let's talk it through. That is what we are for.

In Plain 'Site'

Check out the Fiscal Foxhole podcast with myself and Rob Moore - we're out every Wednesday morning!

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Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided for educational, general information, and illustration purposes only. Nothing contained in this material constitutes tax advice, a recommendation for purchase or sale of any security, or investment advisory services. I encourage you to consult a financial planner, accountant, and/or legal counsel for advice specific to your situation.