I am 61 retired physician. My younger wife is 43 and my twins are 8 years old.
My wife has no/negligible earnings contribution to social security.
I have enough savings not to tap into Social security until age 70.
However, I am considering applying for early retirement benefit and then suspend till age 70, and applying for my minor children, and spouse under childcare benefits. Will social security allow this or will it deem that I take early retirement benefit as well? Thank you

Hi Larry
My husband was forced on disability due to cancer at age 55. I am 61. We are on disability income for the most part because I am his caregiver. I need advice as to when I should take his benefit reduced at age 62 or wait till I am FRA. I did licensed childcare, pay was low so I will be better off to take 50% of his. I also worked for a school district which has its own PERA retirement, am I entitled to any of that? Again very low wages. Thanks B

Hey Larry,

My wife is currently 60 and we are trying to make the smartest choice on when she should start collecting her Social Security. We are both retired currently. She was primarily a stay at home mom so her benefit for FRA is relatively small. Our main goal is that we don’t want her decision on whether to start at age 62 or wait until 67 to adversely effect her eventual spousal benefits.

I am 57, my husband died in 2018 at 55. If I retire and apply for widow benefits early at 60 or 62, will it negatively affect how much I will receive when I apply for my own ss benefits, at age 67 or 70? My 18 yo disabled son already receives survivor benefits on my deceased husband’s social security.

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. No, if you start collecting widow's benefits prior to full retirement age (FRA) it won't have any adverse effect on the benefit rate that you could subsequently be paid on your own account.

Hi Larry, I turn 65 in December and plan to start drawing social security in June 2022. I stopped working completely in January 2020 so I know there will be a reduction in benefits. My question is about benefits for my spouse. She doesn’t have enough credits to claim social security on her own and assuming she outlives me what risk is there for her that my benefits will be significantly less than while I’m living. When should she file for spouse benefits if she is eligible?

Larry, my wife (63) is five years older then I am(58) we’ve decided it’s better to wait til full retirement for me. My SS will be much higher then hers. Question is this: does it make sense for her to claim off of my benefits at 65 or wait until she’s 67.7 and collect her full amount. I’m waiting until I’m 70 to collect mine. Thanks

My husband’s birthdate is 2/24/1952 (now 69-1/2 years old); my birthdate is 8/9/1952 (now 69 years old). My husband will work until he turns 70 in 2/2022; I retired on 3/31/2019, when I was age 66-1/2. We have not filed for SS benefits yet as we were thinking about waiting to file until age 70 to collect our maximum benefits. We are looking for your advice as to when I should file. At age 70, my husband’s estimated monthly benefits will ill be $3,955; at age 70, my estimated monthly benefits will be $2,231 (my estimated benefit as of 8/2021 is $2017).

I'm 62 now, my birthday is November 2021. I have a younger wife we have 2 kids together, one will reach age 16 in November 2021 other just turned 15 July 2021. My job for the last 7 years has been in real estate, we have an S corporation as of 2020 I'm now paid a modest paycheck W-2. My wife is a licensed realtor and also has a full-time job that pays well.The question, I'm thinking about retiring or throttling back my real estate business. Should I wait or take SS benefits now while my kids are under 18.

Larry,

Hello; My husband was receiving ss disability for 6 years before his death at age 64 with a benefit of $2480 per month before taxes. I am 58 years old and understand I cannot get survivor benefits until age 60 and then at a reduced rate. I will probably begin them at age 60 as I will need that income. Will his being on disability affect my survivor benefits? Also will his benefit amount increase after his death as I have another 16 months after his death before I can claim his benefits. Is there a better strategy you can see for my situation?