We were thinking about selling my husbands insurance policy to pay of our mortgage. My question is can his benefits be stopped. He is 66 and I am 57.

Hi,

If your husband is receiving Social Security retirement benefits and he is now age 66, he can voluntarily suspend his benefits in order to earn delayed retirement credits (DRC), but he wouldn't need to suspend his benefits simply if he receives income from the sale of an insurance policy. Proceeds from the sale of an insurance policy would have no effect his ability to receive Social Security benefits. Even if he wasn't already full retirement age (FRA), that type of income doesn't count toward Social Security's earnings test (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html).

What your husband would gain by voluntarily suspending his benefits would be an increase in his benefit rate when his payments are resumed. The rate of increase is 2/3rds of 1% for each month of benefit suspension between FRA and age 70 (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/delayret.html). And, that increase could potentially carry over to your widow's benefit rate if he dies before you.

You may want to consider running the maximization software available on this website in order to explore both your and your husband's options in order to determine your best overall strategy.

Best, Jerry