I am a widow and wondering about conflicting adivce I've gotten about taking my own benefit and then switching survivor benefit at my Full Retirement Age. If I take my benefit at 62, I would get $644 per month. If I wait until 68 and 4 months, I get my full survivor benefit of $2,842. I don't want to take mine if it lowers my survivor benfit, but have been told by someone at social security it will not. I consulted a financial advisor and they thought this was wrong, that taking any benefit early would lower your future benfits when you switch. He said the survivor benefit is a bit different though and he's not sure. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated!

Hi,

No, starting your own benefits early wouldn't have any adverse effect on your subsequent survivor rate. And FYI, although you mention waiting until age 68 & 4 months to file for survivor benefits, you definitely shouldn't want to wait past your full retirement age (FRA) to claim your survivor benefits. Widow's benefits do not get any higher if you wait beyond your FRA to start drawing them. Since you don't mention your date of birth I can't tell you what your FRA is, but it would be somewhere from age 66 to age 67 depending on your year of birth.

Based on the amounts you quoted and assuming that your spouse didn't receive reduced Social Security retirement benefits prior to their death, it sounds like your best option would probably be to file for your own benefits at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit payment of at least some benefits if you'll still be working and will earn more than Social Security's exempt amount of earnings (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking.html). You could then apply for your higher unreduced survivor rate when you reach FRA. You may want to consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to be sure to identify the best possible strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry