My husband is 67 and one month and he is ready to file for his SS benefits. He retired from a university after 30 years. He receives a pension from that University. He went to work at Home Depot as a part-time specialist for the last 11 years. The university and HD paid into social security. He filed for medicare before turning 65 as required. What would be the best scenario to apply for his benefits, go to the office or file online? There are no special circumstances for us that I am aware of. I am his wife of almost 44 years and I just turned 65 in Jan. 2018. He does not not want to have any retroactive payments. Just start 3 months approximately from date of application. You really trust the online process ? Thank you.

Hi,

I don't have any experience to speak of with Social Security's online application process, so I can neither endorse nor criticize. However, I haven't heard anything about it that would lead me to believe that it's unreliable. If you and your husband aren't comfortable filing online, though, you can make an appointment to file by phone or in-person by calling Social Security at 1-800-772-1213.

Before filing, you should familiarize yourself with your filing options so that you will know exactly what you want to do. You and your husband should strongly consider using our maximization software to compare all of your filing options and determine your best overall strategy.

Best, Jerry