Larry: My birthdate is Dec 1951. My wife's birthdate is May 1955. I plan on working and not drawing SS until at least age 66 and hopefully age 70. My wife is planning to start receive Social Security payments based solely on her own income at age 62 (June 2017). Will my wife drawing SS early (age 62) have any impact on me receiving full SS payments later when I start drawing SS payments? Would my wife be able to draw SS based on 1/2 of my SS payment after she reaches age 66? and if I were to die first, would my wife still be able to draw full SS Survivor Benefit from my SS? Mike

Hi Mike,

Your wife taking her benefits early won't have any impact on your benefit rate.

If your wife files for reduced retirement benefits on her own record, she can potentially receive an additional spousal benefit on your record when you file, but she'll keep the reduction that she takes on her own record. For example, say Jane's full retirement age rate (PIA) is $800, but she files at age 62 and gets a reduced rate of $600. When Jane reaches full retirement age, her husband John files for his benefits. John's full retirement age rate (PIA) is $2000, so Jane's spousal benefit rate would be calculated by subtracting her PIA from 50% of John's PIA, or $200 in this example (i.e. $2000/2 - $800). This $200 excess spousal benefit would then be added to Jane's own reduced rate of $600, giving her a combined rate of $800.

If you die first and your wife is at least full retirement age at that time, she could receive your full benefit rate inclusive of your delayed retirement credits (DRC), regardless of whether or not she filed for reduced retirement benefits on her own record. She would not get both her own benefit rate and yours, though, just the higher of the two.

If your wife does start drawing her retirement benefits this year, it would likely be advantageous for you to file for spousal benefits only when you reach age 66. You could still earn delayed retirement credits on your own record, and could then switch to your own account at age 70. You may want to strongly consider running the maximization software available on this website to determine the best overall filing strategy for you and your wife.

Best, Jerry