My wife will be 66 and 2 months in December 2021, her FRA, but we want to wait to age 70 to draw Social Security. Do we need to tell them we want to wait or will they mail us something so we can elect to wait? Thank you Sir.

Hi. Social Security doesn't start paying people benefits automatically, so assuming that neither you or your wife are drawing Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits then you don't need to tell Social Security that you want to wait until age 70 to start drawing your benefits. When you do decide that you want to start collecting your benefits, you'll need to file an application with Social Security.

People who receive SSDI benefits have their benefits automatically converted to regular Social Security retirement benefits when they reach full retirement age (FRA). Such individuals can choose to suspend their retirement benefits until age 70 in order to earn delayed retirement credits (DRC), in which case they would need to contact Social Security to request voluntary suspension of their benefits. You and your wife won't need to do that, though, assuming that you aren't in fact collecting SSDI benefits.

You and your wife may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry