This excerpt originally appeared in Market Watch on October 19, 2012.

For the record, there are those who aren’t so fond of claiming strategies that are gimmicks or abuses of the system. “I was always on the lookout for unique claiming strategies, in part because I’m fascinated by the financial aspect of claiming strategies, but also so I could suggest reforms if there was a strategy that seemed unfair and more of an abuse or gimmick,” Jason Fichtner, who is now a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and formerly acting deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration.