Are you planning to use Social Security as primary income in retirement?

The online survey, Social Security Planning in 2015 & Beyond: Perspectives of Future Beneficiaries and Financial Planners, was conducted for AARP in late June and early July, with 1,215 respondents aged 45 to 64 who do not yet receive Social Security benefits but are eligible to receive them based on their work history by age 62.

The report by the Financial Planning Association and AARP released Monday details how only 1 percent of nearly 1,300 financial planners say their clients are very knowledgeable about claiming Social Security benefits.

However, 94 percent of certified financial planners are saying that Social Security benefits will account for half or less of income for most of their clients, with 53 percent of planners saying the benefits will supply less than 30 percent.

More than 90% of financial advisers recommend that clients check their estimated Social Security retirement benefits at least once every couple years yet only 64% of consumers have done so in the past two years.

That assumption leaves many with less incentive to aggressively save on their own. The survey results reveal a great deal about the enormous knowledge gap consumers, including clients of CFP professionals, face as they determine how to claim Social Security benefits.

“For consumers to maximize their financial potential in retirement they need to consider Social Security and the important role it plays as one of the primary cornerstones of a sound retirement plan”, said FPA President Ed Gjersten.

Almost 3 in 10 financial planners recommend to clients that they wait to claim benefits until age 70, according to the survey, but only 13 percent of consumers plan to wait that long.

Although most (88 percent) knew that waiting from age 62 to Full Retirement Age – that’s now between age 66 and 67, depending on when you were born – would increase their benefit amount, only 5 percent knew exactly how much.

The opportunity to increase Social Security income by postponing benefits is yet another source of confusion for consumers.

“I’d say that number is higher than the reality”, said David Yeske, Managing Director at the San Francisco, Calif. financial planning firm Yeske Buie, who worked on the survey.

Among CFPs, 50% accurately estimated the number of years that the Social Security Old Age trust fund will remain solvent under current projections – 10-20 years – compared with 27% of consumers, many of whom expected the trust fund to expire earlier.

Income from Social Security is the most important, if not the only, guaranteed asset many Americans count on for retirement.

At the same time, it seems, divorcees may also be susceptible to Social Security snafus.

Such lack of clarity can result in an ex-spouse forgoing a higher benefit (or any benefit at all).

Apart from financial planners, he said, consumers can obtain guidance from such resources as AARP and the Social Security Administration, which has gotten far better at customer service.

Summing up, AARP Chief Public Policy Officer Debra Whitman said in a statement that “we found that far too many consumers don’t understand the rules of the road, and this is a case where lack of knowledge can have a major impact for the rest of their lives”.

All too often, however, consumers rely on secondhand information when it comes to making Social Security decisions. Although most acknowledge they know little about Social Security claiming, the vast majority of consumers (77%) and CFP professionals (85%) say that maximizing benefits is very important. “Friends and family may be well-intentioned, but they may not know what they don’t know”.

The confusion starts with even most basic rules of Social Security.