I am 57, my husband died in 2018 at 55. If I retire and apply for widow benefits early at 60 or 62, will it negatively affect how much I will receive when I apply for my own ss benefits, at age 67 or 70? My 18 yo disabled son already receives survivor benefits on my deceased husband’s social security.

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. No, if you start collecting widow's benefits prior to full retirement age (FRA) it won't have any adverse effect on the benefit rate that you could subsequently be paid on your own account.

It sounds like your best strategy for claiming benefits would likely be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 and then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 and then file for unreduced widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches it's highest potential rate. However, filing for widow's benefits could cause your son's benefit rate to be reduced depending on the family maximum benefit (FMB) amount on your husband's account. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry