Scenario: Husband will retire FRA of 70 (9/23/1953) wife (Susan 7/22/1959) will file for SS at 62 (only 18 years of employment) Question: If wife collects her SS at 62, can husband collect half of wife's (meager -ha) SS earning when wife files for SS until his FRA of 70 (at which point wife transitions to receiving a percentage of his SS.
I cannot find an answer anywhere to this question. Thank you so much!

Hi,

First off, just to clarify if the husband in this scenario was born in 1953 then his full retirement age (FRA) for Social Security is age 66, not 70. He's free to wait until age 70 to start drawing his benefits, though, and if he does so his Social Security retirement rate will be 32% higher than if he'd started drawing at FRA.

The answer to your question is yes. Since this husband was born prior to January 2 1954 and since he has now reached FRA and hasn't yet applied for his own benefits, he could file for just for spousal benefits if his wife is drawing her Social Security retirement or disability benefits. The amount that he'd then qualify for is 50% of his wife's primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA). The husband could then potentially draw the spousal benefits while allowing his own Social Security retirement rate to grow until age 70. Drawing spousal benefits in that scenario would have no adverse effect on his own age 70 benefit rate.

The couple in this scenario would be well advised to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze their options in order to determine the best strategy for maximizing their benefits.

Best, Jerry