Four sheets, set in large type, meant to be printed and kept with the rest of your paperwork. Together they cover the two decisions this site exists for — what Medicare will cost you, and when to start Social Security — plus the fall checklist and a card for the five figures you will otherwise go looking for every time.
Free, and free of the usual arrangement. There is no paid version, nothing to buy at the end, and no phone number asked for at any point. Every figure on every sheet carries the official document it was taken from and the date we last checked it.
💵The income surcharge bracket card
Every 2026 IRMAA step on a large-print card: the income figure where each step begins, what it adds to your Part B premium and to Part D, and the filing status columns side by side — with the married-filing-separately table, which is steeper, set out on its own.
IRMAA — the income-related monthly adjustment amount — is decided from the tax return you filed two years earlier, so the year to look at the brackets is the year you are earning, not the year the bill arrives. Kept beside the desk, this card is what turns "will this withdrawal cost me?" into a question you can answer in a few seconds. It also carries the SSA-44 line, because a life-changing event can move you back down a step.
Five pages, prints on letter or A4. Sent as irmaa-bracket-card.pdf, set in large type: 14-point body text, black on white, with the source and the date it was checked printed on every page.
📅The claiming-age decision worksheet
A worksheet for the Social Security timing decision: the percentage your benefit pays at 62, at your full retirement age, and at 70, worked out for your own birth year, with room to write the three dollar amounts and the five things a break-even year cannot tell you.
This is the sheet to fill in with a pen, at a table, with a spouse if you have one. The arithmetic is only half the decision — the other half is a survivor benefit, your own health, whether you actually expect to keep working, how much you need the money now, and the fact that nobody knows how long they will live. There is a line for each. It ends without a recommendation, on purpose: nobody who has not met you should be telling you when to claim.
Seven pages, prints on letter or A4. Sent as claiming-age-worksheet.pdf, set in large type: 14-point body text, black on white, with the source and the date it was checked printed on every page.
🗓️The annual enrollment checklist
What to check every fall while the enrollment window is open, in order, with the dates printed on it and a box beside each item.
Almost everyone signs up once and then leaves it alone, and the costs move underneath them: drug lists change every year, premiums are announced in the fall, and a plan that fit last year may not fit this one. The tick-list is a couple of pages you can pull out each October, work down, and put away again, with the windows themselves set out behind it. It says what to look at and where the official figures are published — it does not tell you what to choose.
Seven pages, prints on letter or A4. Sent as annual-enrollment-checklist.pdf, set in large type: 14-point body text, black on white, with the source and the date it was checked printed on every page.
🗂️The Retirement Numbers Card
The five figures every calculator on this site asks for, on one card: your benefit at full retirement age, the age you plan to claim, the income figure your Medicare surcharge is assessed on, your birth date, and your Part B start date.
These five numbers decide most of what a retirement costs, and they live in five different envelopes. Written down once on a card in your file, they save you hunting for a Social Security statement every time somebody asks. It is also the paper twin of the Numbers Card on this site, which stores the same figures in your own browser and never sends them anywhere.
Five pages — two cards on the first, then where each number comes from. Sent as retirement-numbers-card.pdf, set in large type: 14-point body text, black on white, with the source and the date it was checked printed on every page.
Enter your email and confirm the link we send back — that second step is what proves the address is yours, and it is why nobody can sign you up for this without your knowing.
Four emails a year. Not "occasional updates" — four, and here is the whole list of when they arrive:
Those are the four times of year the numbers on this site actually change, which is the only reason we would write to you. We do not sell, rent, or share the list, there is an unsubscribe link in every email, and one click is all it takes. We never ask for a phone number, here or anywhere else on this site.
About the figures on these sheets
The sheets are built from the same verified rule packs that feed the calculators here, so each one is printed with its source and the date it was last checked. Estimates and worksheets only — not financial, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Social Security, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and your state agency are the ones who make the actual determinations, and every sheet says where to reach them.
If your question is which coverage to pick rather than what it costs, that is not something we do — see who to ask for help, where the free, unbiased places to take that question are listed. How every figure gets checked is described in our methodology.