Read the rule, then decide
3 calls, 3 different answers.
Here’s what the rule actually says.
The Social Security and Medicare system is confusing, sometimes on purpose. Roy reads the official rulebook and lays it out in plain English: the deadlines, the percentages, the penalties. Every single figure is cited to SSA, CMS, or the IRS, with its year. No directives, no spin, just the rule in plain English you can actually use.
One wrong month can cost you for the rest of your life, and it’s avoidable.
Nobody hands you the playbook. You call three offices, you get three different answers, and the rules change every year. The trouble is, some of these decisions don’t come with a second chance.
Miss the Medicare window
The Part B late-enrollment penalty is 10% added to your premium for every full 12 months you could have enrolled but didn’t, and it’s permanent, for as long as you have Part B. Medicare.gov, 2026
Lock in a smaller check
Claim Social Security at 62 instead of your full retirement age and the rule reduces your benefit to about 70%. That’s roughly a 30% smaller check, for life (at FRA 67), and it doesn’t reset. SSA, 2026
Here’s what I put together for you.
Start free, or step up to the full reference. Each one is in plain English, every figure cited. All one-time, nothing shipped.
The deadlines and the numbers, every figure with its source and year.
The rules that quietly change your check, on the windows you can’t miss and the penalties that never stop:
- 7 months Your Initial Enrollment Period (around 65)The 3 months before your 65th-birthday month, that month, and the 3 months after. Miss it without a Special Enrollment Period and the penalties below start.Medicare.gov, 2026
- Oct 15 – Dec 7 Medicare Open Enrollment (AEP)The yearly window to compare and switch Advantage / Part D plans for next year.Medicare.gov, 2026
- Jan 1 – Mar 31 General Enrollment PeriodFor people who missed their Initial Enrollment Period and don’t qualify for a Special one. It’s easy to confuse with Open Enrollment, so we lay both out side by side.Medicare.gov, 2026
- 1% / month The Part D late-enrollment penaltyGo 63+ days without creditable drug coverage and you owe 1% of the national base premium ($38.99, 2026) per uncovered month, added to your Part D premium, ongoing.Medicare.gov, 2026
- Age 73 / 25% The RMD rule and its penalty(in the Tax Survival Kit) Required minimum distributions start at age 73; miss one and the excise tax is 25%, dropping to 10% if you correct it within 2 years.IRS / SECURE 2.0, 2026
Full Retirement Age rose from 66 to 67
Two-month steps across 1955–1959. SSA, 2026
A look inside the Rulebook
Sample page: one of the cited tables insideThis is an actual table from the reference: your Full Retirement Age by birth year, exactly as it appears, with its source on it. Every table inside is built this way.
| Birth year | Full Retirement Age |
|---|---|
| 1943–1954 | 66 |
| 1955 | 66 and 2 months |
| 1956 | 66 and 4 months |
| 1957 | 66 and 6 months |
| 1958 | 66 and 8 months |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months |
| 1960 or later | 67 |
SSA, 2026 Source: Social Security Administration, ssa.gov. If you were born on January 1, the prior year applies. Figures reflect 2026 rules. Verify current numbers at SSA.gov.
Inside the Rulebook: every figure with its source and year
The full 2026 tables (Full Retirement Age by birth year, the 62 / FRA / 70 tradeoff, the complete IRMAA brackets, the earnings test, the maximum benefit at 70) are laid out in plain English in the reference, each one cited to SSA, CMS, or the IRS. A taste of what’s inside:
- Claim at 62 and the rule cuts your check to about 70%, a ~30% smaller benefit, for life. SSA, 2026
- Wait to 70 and delayed credits add ~8%/yr, to about 124%. SSA, 2026
- Miss the Part B window and the penalty is +10%/yr, permanently. Medicare.gov, 2026
Most retirees never owe IRMAA, and the maximum benefit at 70 is $5,181/mo (SSA, 2026). The complete brackets and the side-by-side claiming research are in the reference, including the NBER finding that the median household aged 45–62 leaves about $182,370 in lifetime benefits on the table (Kotlikoff / BU, NBER #30675, 2022).
Add up what this kind of clarity usually costs.
No inflated “value” we never charged. Just the honest math: what each piece is worth on its own, and what the same answers cost you anywhere else.
If you bought each piece on its own
The complete Retirement Tax Survival Kit bundles all of it at its $97 launch price ($129 regular).
Versus an hour with a CPA
A retirement-focused CPA or fee-only advisor commonly runs $200–$400 an hour (typical market rate).
One hour, one conversation. This is yours to keep and re-read for the price of a few minutes of that hour, and most readers find they don’t need the hour at all once the rule is in plain English in front of them.
Advisory rates are a general market estimate, not a quote. Rates vary by professional and region.
From three conflicting answers to one cited reference.
Before
- You call three offices and get three different answers.
- Web pages quote figures with no source and no year, some of them out of date.
- You’re afraid to decide because you can’t tell which answer is right.
After
- One organized reference with the rule, in plain English.
- Every figure cited to SSA, CMS, or the IRS, with its year, so you can verify it.
- The exact answers, what each rule actually does, so you decide with the facts in hand, not a list of questions for someone else.
The reference costs less than a single hour of advice, and the mistake it helps you avoid is measured in years.
One claiming decision, made without the rule in front of you, can cost a great deal over a retirement, far more than anything on this page. Research puts a real number on what the typical household leaves on the table (see the cited figure). The point of this reference is to walk you into that decision already knowing what the rule says.
Kotlikoff / BU, NBER #30675, 2022
Choose your reference
Start free, then step up when you’re ready. Real differences, not padding.
Every option below is a one-time purchase. No subscription, no hidden billing, yours to keep.
7-day money-back · keep the files either way.
Retirement Tax Survival Kit
~73 page PDF set: the Rulebook + Playbook + 3 tax modules + the Calendar. Instant download.
Everything Roy makes, in one set: the Rulebook, the Medicare Decisions Playbook, the three retirement-tax traps (the RMD rule, the Roth-conversion window, and where retirement income is taxed lightest), plus the bundle-exclusive year-by-year Calendar. All cited.
- The complete Rulebook + the Medicare Decisions Playbook, in full
- RMD module: age 73, the 25%→10% rule IRS, 2026
- The Roth-conversion window & its 2-year IRMAA echo
- Tax-friendly-states guide: exactly how retirement income is taxed state by state, and the categories that decide it
- Only in the bundleThe Year-by-Year Retirement Tax & Benefits Calendar, with every key age, threshold & deadline, 59½→73+, in one cited timeline
- A plain-English tax-trap walkthrough: the RMD, Roth-conversion-window, and IRMAA rules laid out so you understand them before they hit your return
One-time download. No subscription.
The Social Security & Medicare Rulebook
~24 page PDF, instant digital download, nothing shipped.
The plain-English reference that reads the rulebook for you: claiming explained in plain English, the enrollment windows, and the penalties that lock in for life, every figure cited to SSA / CMS with its year.
- Everything in the free cheat sheet, in depth
- The full Medicare-window timeline (IEP, GEP, Open Enrollment)
- The Part B (10%/yr) & Part D penalty math, explained
- The full 2026 IRMAA bracket table CMS, 2026
- A plain-English decision checklist: the factors the rule turns on, so you can weigh your own situation with confidence
One-time download. No subscription.
Rulebook + Medicare Decisions Playbook
~52 page PDF set: the Rulebook plus the decision Playbook. Instant download.
The Rulebook gives you the rules; the Playbook gives you the frameworks and worksheets to weigh them for your own situation, with Original Medicare + Medigap vs Advantage compared side by side, the Medigap plan-letter map, a Part D worksheet, the IRMAA appeal walkthrough, and the enrollment-window decision tree. Every figure cited.
- The complete Rulebook, included in full
- Original Medicare + Medigap vs Advantage, a side-by-side framework (the tradeoffs, not a verdict)
- The Medigap plan-letter map (what each standardized letter covers) CMS, 2026
- A Part D drug-plan comparison worksheet (the Plan Finder process)
- The IRMAA appeal walkthrough (Form SSA-44, step by step) SSA, 2026
- The enrollment-window decision tree (IEP / SEP / GEP) + the penalty math
One-time download. No subscription.
Social Security Claiming-Age Cheat Sheet
A 1–2 page printable PDF, clean on one sheet.
Your full retirement age, and what claiming at 62 vs FRA vs 70 actually does to your check, in plain English, with the SSA source right on it.
- The full FRA table by birth year SSA, 2026
- The 62 / FRA / 70 tradeoff, one row each
- The 2026 earnings-test reminder
- A plain-English “what to weigh next” box covering the personal factors only you can answer
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Read it for a week. Keep the files either way.
Download it, read it, and use it. If within 7 days it isn’t the clear, cited reference you hoped for, email hello@royreadstherules.org and we’ll refund every cent, with no forms and no hoops, and you keep the files. The only thing you risk is a little reading time.
Honest answers to the questions careful buyers ask.
Is this affiliated with the SSA, Medicare, or the IRS?
No, not in any way. Roy Reads the Rules is an independent educational resource. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the Social Security Administration, Medicare, CMS, the IRS, or any government agency. We don’t file anything for you and we can’t access your account. What we do is read the published rules and translate them into plain English, with the official source on every figure so you can confirm it yourself.
Does it tell me when to claim, or which Medicare plan to pick?
No, and that’s on purpose. This reference shows you what the rule does at each age and in each window. It does not tell you to claim at 62, at 67, or at 70, and it never recommends a specific Medicare plan, carrier, or Advantage-vs-Medigap choice. Those decisions depend on your health, savings, and family situation. The reference gives you the rule itself in plain English so you understand exactly what’s at stake. And if you want a second set of eyes, free SHIP counseling (shiphelp.org / 1-877-839-2675) is there at no cost.
Is this financial, tax, or legal advice?
No. It is general education that explains what published rules say. It is not individualized financial, tax, insurance, or legal advice, and not a guarantee of any outcome. Think of it as the plain-English briefing that puts the actual rule in your hands, so you can recognize a wrong answer the moment you hear one. The personal call, your health, your savings, your timing, is yours; free SHIP counseling can help you weigh it at no cost.
Is it really an instant download, or is something mailed to me?
It’s an instant digital download, and nothing is shipped. The moment your purchase goes through, you get a link to download the PDF (and a copy by email). There’s no physical book, no waiting for the mail, and nothing to return. You’ll see a normal, secure checkout with the usual card and PayPal options before you pay.
What if it’s not for me? Can I get a refund?
Yes, a real 7-day money-back guarantee. If within 7 days the reference isn’t what you hoped for, email hello@royreadstherules.org and we’ll refund every cent, no forms and no hoops. You even keep the files. A real person reads that inbox and answers.
Who is “Roy,” exactly?
Roy spent his working life inside benefits paperwork and bookkeeping. In retirement he does what he’s always been good at, which is reading the official rules line by line and writing down exactly what they mean. The whole value here is honesty you can verify: every rule is real, every citation is real, and every number traces to an official SSA, CMS, or IRS source with its year. Nothing here asks for your trust. It earns it.
Read the rule, then decide
Walk into your decision already knowing what’s true.
The reference is yours to keep and re-read every year as the figures change, so you walk into every decision already knowing what the rule says.
7-day money-back · keep the files either way.
Get the Social Security Claiming-Age Cheat Sheet.
One page: your full retirement age, the 62 / FRA / 70 tradeoff, and the 2026 earnings test, all in plain English, with the SSA source on it. We’ll email it to you. No subscription; leave anytime.
About Roy
“I read the official rules so you don’t have to.”
Roy is the meticulous retired benefits-and-bookkeeping guy who actually enjoys the fine print. He’s the kind who reads the SSA handbook and the CMS fact sheet line by line, then writes down what it really means in words a person can use.
Roy’s credibility is simple and it’s real: he reads the official rules line by line and cites every figure, so you never have to take his word for it. You can check the source yourself. That’s the whole brand, and it’s a higher bar than most paid “experts” clear. Every figure on this site and in every reference traces back to a public SSA, CMS, or IRS source with its effective year, so you’re never asked to take Roy’s word for it. You can check him.