Hi Larry-Hope all is well with you. Here's my question (which I'm sure you have gotten thousands of times), my wife is 64, I'm 59. I was going to wait until my FRA to apply for SS since my wife's SS is nominal at best. I recently heard on a podcast since she will be beyond my FRA when I turn 62 it would be smart to consider applying at that time. I am retired and living comfortably on two pensions (military and small civil service). My game plan was to spend down TSP account prior to beginning SS for tax purposes but I'm now in a quandary. I sure would appreciate any advice.

Hi,

If you won't be working and earning too much you certainly could file for your Social Security retirement benefits at age 62. That would also allow your wife to potentially receive an unreduced spousal benefit sooner, assuming that 50% of your full retirement age rate (PIA, or primary insurance amount) is more than your wife's PIA. If your wife is already receiving her own retirement benefits when she becomes eligible for spousal benefits, she'd then continue to draw her retirement benefit rate plus receive an excess spousal benefit equal to 50% of your PIA minus her own PIA.

The downside to filing at age 62 is that your retirement benefit rate would then be roughly 29% to 30% less than your full retirement age amount. Plus, if you start drawing your retirement benefits at age 62 and subsequently die before your wife does, her survivor rate would be limited to the higher of her own retirement rate or 82.5% of your PIA.

You and your wife will need to decide which strategy you feel is best for the two of you, and our software would enable you to compare your options so that you can make the best possible decision. It sounds as though you'd likely benefit from choosing our Maxifi program (https://maxifiplanner.com/retirement-planning-maxifi), which is a comprehensive personal financial planning tool.

Best, Jerry