Hi Larry,
I started taking my SS benefits the month I turned 68, March 2019 (my birthday is 3/1/51). My husband plans to file a restricted application for spousal benefits in September 2019 (his birthday is 9/11/53), with the intent of waiting till he's 70 to file for his own SS retirement benefit.
We've been looking online and have read your book, but still have some questions.*In general, how reliable are the SS estimated benefit amounts? Does what a person ends up getting from SS often differ from what the SS estimate was? My husband wants to make sure that what SS is telling him his own benefit would be at age 66 is accurate.
*If my husband receives a spousal benefit at 66 (his full retirement age), his own delayed retirement credits would still increase each month that he waits to claim his own benefit even if he has no income - correct?
*If my husband fills out the online application for spousal benefit in October or November, can he still request that it start with the month of September?
*Are there any time limits or requirements before he can apply for his own retirement benefit after receiving a spousal benefit? If we discover that we can't make it with him just getting spousal benefits, can he apply for his own retirement benefit at any time before he reaches 70?
*And lastly, do people ever have trouble applying for or getting their own retirement benefit after having received spousal benefits? What could go wrong? We want to try this plan, but only if we can be assured that he won't be inadvertently limiting his own benefit by receiving a spousal benefit first. We understand that on the application for spousal benefit he needs to include a comment about restricting his own benefit from the application, that he's only applying for spousal benefit at this time.
Thanks for your help!
Hi,
As far as I know, the estimates provided by Social Security are reasonably accurate as long as all of the assumptions they make about earnings prior to the person's retirement are accurate. The benefit calculator provided in our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) uses the same formula that Social Security uses to calculate benefit rates, so your husband might want to use our software to obtain accurate benefit rates. Also, once your husband starts drawing spousal benefits he'll no longer be able to use Social Security's online calculator to get estimates of his own benefit rate, but he could still use our software for that purpose.
Yes, your husband would accrue delayed retirement credits (DRC) between full retirement age and age 70 as long as he doesn't start drawing his own Social Security retirement benefits, even if he has no earnings during those years.
Yes, your husband could apply up to 6 months after the month he reaches full retirement age (FRA) and still claim spousal benefits retroactive to the month he attained FRA.
Yes, your husband would be free to file for his own Social Security retirement benefits at any time after claiming spousal benefits. I'm not aware of any major problems involved with the process of applying to switch to drawing your own Social Security retirement benefits after drawing spousal benefits.
Best, Jerry
