I would appreciate it if you can please clarify a situation regarding restricted applications. My wife and I are both retired and do not plan on starting our SS benefits until we are 70. Currently I am 65 and my wife is 64. For this example my monthly benefit at 66 will be $2,500 and my wife's will be $1,500. At 70, my monthly benefit would be $3,200 and my wife's would be $1,850. If I understand restricted application correctly, if my wife begins to take her SS benefit at age 66 of $1,800 a month I can immediately apply for a spousal benefit of $900 a month until age 70 at which time I could then switch to my own monthly benefits of $3,200 a month. If so, then all we need to do is estimate how much money we would gain by my taking spousal benefits vs. how much we would lose over time by my wife starting her benefits at 66 instead of 70. Is this correct?

Thanks very much,
GT

Hi GT,

Yes, although there are many other potential filing options in addition to the two you mentioned. Since you were born prior to January 2 1954 you could file a restricted application for spousal benefits only on your wife's record when you reach full retirement age (FRA), but only if your wife is drawing her benefits at that time. If she waits until her FRA to apply, you would have to wait until then to file for spousal benefits. In either case, your spousal benefit rate would be 50% of your wife's full retirement age rate (PIA). The potential downside as you mentioned is that your wife would then receive a lower monthly benefit rate than she would have received if she'd waited until age 70 to start drawing.

You may want to consider using the maximization software available on this website to do your planning. That way you can compare the long term effects of the filing options you mentioned, as well as explore the other filing options that you may not have considered.

Best, Jerry