My wife turns 66 this August. She plans to continue working as a teacher full-time for the school district for one more year which means she will be 67 when she retires. At retirement she will have 15 years in the state's PERS system. We realize her Social Security benefit will be reduced once s retires and begins to collect her District pension.

My wife would like to file for Social Security when she turns 66 in August. She believes this will allow her to collect her teacher's salary for this coming school year plus full Social Security benefits for the year. She plans to defer Medicare Part B when she files because she is covered under the school district's health insurance as well as mine. I am almost two years younger than my wife and plan to work until 70.

Is this the best way to go? We have your book "Get What's Yours" and it has been a big help. We plan to buy your new book on Medicare when it comes out in October. We hope it will help us make her Medicare decisions once she is no longer covered by the school district's health insurance. Thanks, Pete

Pete, it's not possible to say without more information what your best strategy is. It depends on each of your earnings histories, your exact birthdates and your wife's balance of covered and non-covered employment among other factors. The Earnings Test won's be a factor after her FRA. Our software will both determine your maximized household strategy and let you enter various what-if scenarios, including with different levels of future covered and non-covered income, to see how they compare to each other and to the maximized strategy. Thanks, John