My husband and I are both 65 (our FRA is age 66 in 2019) I have been the higher wage earner. At FRA our benefits will be as follows:
Husband age 66 - $1,030
Wife age 66 - $1,539
We want to know if the following plan is in our best interest to maximize our benefits.
Husband files for SS now at age 65 - receives reduced amt.- $959/mo.
Wife files restricted application at age 66 and applies for spousal benefit - $479/mo
Monthly total for husband & wife between ages 65 until 70 = $1,438

At age 70 wife files for her increased delayed benefit = $2,247/mo and husband continues receiving his $959/mo for TOTAL - $3,206/mo

This seems like a good plan but we want to be sure we don't make a mistake if husband begins his benefits now at 65.
Thank you.

Hi,

Your plan looks okay but it's not necessarily the best plan to maximize benefits since your husband would be stuck with a reduced benefit rate for as long as both of you are living. Also, your math is slightly off since as a spouse starting at full retirement age (FRA) you would receive 50% of your husband's FRA rate even if he starts drawing his benefits early. And, your age 70 rate would only be 32% higher than your FRA rate unless your rate increases more than that due to your earnings between FRA and age 70.

You and your husband should strongly consider using our maximization software before deciding what to do. That way you can gauge the likely long-term effects of your various filing strategies in order to make sure that you end up choosing the strategy that's best for both of you.

Best, Jerry