Beginning to receive your Social Security benefits can be an overwhelming part of the retirement planning process. A big common mistake retirees make is not understanding that Social Security benefits can be taxable, depending on a retiree’s total income. “If the plan was to reduce what they take out of their retirement monies to otherwise coordinate with their need for monthly cashflow, a lot of people use Social Security as an added buffer of additional monies that they’ve all of a sudden come into when, in fact, it makes a ton of sense to consider reducing what they remove from their retirement assets.”