Hi Larry,
My husband turned 69 in July 2020, and decided to retire and apply for Social Security. He expects his benefits to begin in October. I turned 66 in March 2020 (Full Retirement Age) and I am still working full time. My plan -- health permitting -- is to continue working full-time until I am 70 and then collect my maximum SS benefit. I would like to know if I can apply for and receive a spousal benefit right now, and collect that until I retire, and then apply for and receive my maximum SS benefit. I thought Congress did away with all this for people born after January 1954. (I was born in March 1954.) But I have now called Social Security three times and spoken with three different agents, and all of them have assured me, without any hesitation, that the answer is YES: that BECAUSE I have hit FRA and BECAUSE I am still working, I can apply for and receive the maximum spousal benefit (50% of my husband's benefit) and continue to collect that until age 70, and that my own benefit will not be reduced in anyway. Can you please confirm this? Or direct me toward some specific department in Social Security? I don't want to move forward with this and then find out I am being penalized in some way. Thanks!

Hi,

The answer is no. Since you were born after January 1 1954, you cannot file just for spousal benefits without also being deemed to be filing for your own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/claiming.html). Whether or not you are still working is irrelevant in that regard.

I don't know why you've repeatedly been given incorrect information when you've called Social Security, other than to assume that all of the employees with whom you've spoken are poorly trained or mistaken. They certainly shouldn't be giving out information unless they know that the information is accurate.

Best, Jerry