Social Security calculates benefits from your 35 highest-earning years, so a lower-wage job can't reduce a benefit already built on decades of tech salaries.
Claiming at 62 instead of 67 permanently cuts a $3,200 monthly benefit by roughly $960, while waiting until 70 pushes it to nearly $3,970.
Mark's pharmacy-tech paycheck serves as a bridge to delay claiming, while lower taxable income creates room for Roth conversions at reduced tax brackets.
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Seattle's job market is silently rewriting itself. Over the past month, truck-driver postings in the region spiked 231% and security-guard openings jumped 146%, while software-engineer openings suffered the steepest drop, down 56%, according to KUOW reporting on data from the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County. Nearly three-quarters of the 7,453 workers laid off in H1 2026 were in the information sector, and Washington state's tech layoffs now rank second highest in the country.

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