Education, income levels fueling life expectancy gap The root document in all this is a 2007 study conducted by Hilary Waldron, an economist for the Social Security Administration. In the study, Waldron divided male workers into two groups: those in the top half of the Social Security wage base (about $60,000 a year and up today), and those in the bottom half. The finding fueled the growth of a mini-industry: financial planners helping their more affluent clients select the best time to claim Social Security benefits. Since Social Security benefits increase rapidly with each year of deferral, the longer lives of the affluent make deferral a good investment. A 2012 study by demographer S.