I'm drawing survivors benefits from my deceased wife who did not work much could I draw from mine instead brings how I have made way more money?

Hi. The answer to your question depends on your age. You'd have to be at least age 62 to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits, and your benefit rate would be reduced for age if you start drawing prior to your full retirement age (FRA).

For your information, though, just because you earned more than your spouse doesn't necessarily mean that you'd be due a higher benefit rate on your own account. Social Security benefits are calculated based on the worker's average earnings in the years used to compute their benefit amount. Basically, the higher the average, the higher the benefit rate. Social Security retirement benefits are based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, whereas survivor benefits can be based on as few as 2 years of a worker's earnings depending on their age at the time they died. Therefore, survivor rates can be quite high in some cases even when the deceased worker only worked for a short period of time. Plus, Social Security cost of living (COLA) increases are added to survivor benefit rates starting with the year after the worker's death.

If you are eligible for higher Social Security benefits on your own record, you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze your options so that you can determine the best time to switch to drawing your own benefits. Your retirement benefit rate would continue to grow until you reach age 70 if you wait until then to claim your own benefits.

Best, Jerry