Hi, My wife is planning to retire in June 2019 from teaching and start collecting her pension and Social Security. She will be 2 months shy of 64 years old. Her full benefits will be higher than her spousal benefits would be.
I'm planning on retiring in March 2020 when I'm 66 and 8 months old. When she retires, should I start collecting spousal benefits or just wait until I retire to collect my own SS benefits?

Hi,

You couldn't file for spousal benefits anytime before your wife starts drawing her benefits, and you couldn't file for just spousal benefits only without also filing for your own retirement benefits until you reach your full retirement age (FRA). Furthermore, even at FRA you would only be able to file just for spousal benefits only if you were born prior to January 2 1954.

So, assuming that you were born prior to January 2 1954, then it sounds like you're best plan would probably be to file just for spousal benefits only when you reach FRA while allowing your own benefit rate to grow until age 70. You should strongly consider using our maximization software to make sure that both you and your wife know your optimal filing strategies.

Best, Jerry