I retired at 62 I was born in 1949 my income was never very much. So I chose to claim benefits on my spouse's retirement income. He is 75 im not for sure if im able to draw my own and that portion of his.any advice?

Hi,

You would need to have at least 40 quarters (i.e. 10 years) of Social Security covered work in order to be eligible for benefits on your own record. If you filed for Social Security benefits before your full retirement age and you had earned at least 40 quarters of coverage at that time, then you are already receiving at least some of your benefits based on your own work record. Probably the easiest way to check on this by looking at your Medicare number. If it ends with the letter 'A', then at least part of your current benefit is being paid on your own record. If you are drawing only spousal benefits, then your Medicare number would end with the letter 'B'.

So, it sounds like you are probably already receiving all of the benefits to which you are entitled, which is essentially the higher of a) 50% of your husband's full retirement age rate or b) your own retirement benefit rate. But, you may be receiving a combination of both benefits, and your benefit rate would be reduced for age if you started drawing benefits prior to full retirement age. For example:

Mary's husband is already drawing his Social Security benefits and his full retirement age rate (PIA) is $1800. Mary's full retirement age rate (PIA) is $400. Mary decides to file for benefits at age 62, so her own retirement benefit amount is reduced for age from $400 to $300. Since Mary's PIA is less than 50% than her husband's PIA, she is deemed to also be applying for spousal benefits. Mary's unreduced spousal benefit is calculated by subtracting her own PIA from 50% of her husband's PIA, or $500 in this example (i.e. $1800/2 - $400). However, Mary's spousal benefit rate is also reduced for age from $500 to $350 since she started drawing it at age 62. Thus, Mary is paid a combined retirement and spousal benefit rate of $650.

If you don't think that you are receiving the correct type of benefit or benefit rate, probably the best thing to do would be to check with Social Security to see if you may be eligible for any additional benefits.

Best, Jerry