Hi, I'm 55 and on SSDI for the last 9 years. My wife younger at 48 years old and she has always being the higher earner, been married for 13 year and we both have a work all of our lives. How can i maximize my retirement at full retirement age or if I become able to work but retire at 62? What if the wife wants to retire early also? thank you!

Hi. There are too many variables involved for me to be able to give you any specific advice. What I can tell you is that if you continue to collect Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits until your SSDI benefits convert to retirement benefits at your full retirement age (FRA), you could then voluntarily suspend your retirement benefits in order to earn delayed retirement credits (DRC). That would increase your benefit rate by 2/3rds of 1% for each month that your benefits are suspended.

If either you or your wife start drawing retirement benefits prior to your prospective FRAs, your benefit rates will be reduced for age. It sounds like you and your wife may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your options so that you can determine the best overall strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry