I sent you an email last night regarding my SS benefit and if I filed too early 3/3/17 I turned 70 on 2/26/17. When I ran my figures through your program I bought, it came back stating my benefit would be $300 more if I waited to collect until next year 2018 when I am 71. Can you explain why? I collected 1/2 my husbands benefit from 67 years old to now. Mine is more now but I still work and can wait another year if I will really get another $300/month? Can you explain????

Hi,

I am 64, turning 65 on July 11, 2017.
My wife is 39.
I have many health issues. What is best strategy for me. I have some memory problem, so I can't always understand everything. Any advice will be appreciated.
Thank you

Hi,

You may want to look into filing for Social Security disability benefits. For more information regarding the eligibility requirements, refer to Social Security's website: https://www.ssa.gov/disabilityssi/.

I turned 70 years old on 2/26/17 and I have continuously worked and planning or working for about another 5 years. I have 2 questions. I never applied for mine and I suspended my benefits at age 67 and collected 1/2 my EX husbands SS benefit since that time so I could get the 32% increase on mine at age 70. I just applied for my benefit on 3/3/17 on line and I am wondering if the new suspend law that started in April 2016 has an effect on my actions for collecting now. Did I lose anything by suspending my own benefit until age 70?

I am almost 66. I was married for 18 years. I continue to work, I hope at least to age 68. Can I file for my spousal benefit at 66, which should be around $1100, allowing mine to continue to grow, then switch to my own higher amount (around $2400) at 70? This would allow my own benefit to grow by almost $800 over that 4 years.

Hi,

Hi Larry! I've been following your column on social security for the past few years. I am currently 65 and retired unexpectedly last year. My wife is 70 but she does not have enough work credits to qualify for Social Security on her own. We were originally going to follow the File and Suspend strategy so that she could get spousal benefits next year and I could wait as long as I could until I reached 70. Since the law has changed to close this "loophole" we don't know what to do. Should I file now (or at least at FRA next year) so that my wife can get spousal benefits?

Under the laws for 2017 - can my wife who will be 65 in May 2017 start drawing Social Security against her earnings and then when I start drawing at age 66 (FRA) can she switch over to a spousal benefit which will give her more income? If so what do we need to specify when we sign her up for Social Security? Both born in 1952.
Thanks

Hi,

I am 61 and 6 months old. My full retirement age is 65 and 2 months. I am planning on collecting widow's benefits. My first husband died in 1985 on our 5th anniversary day. I had 2 babies with a third on the way. We were able to survive on SS survivor benefits. I was a stay at home mom for awhile and then worked at a private school for the kids tuition. In 1998 I remarried and had another son. This marriage ended in divorce in 2004. I am not able to collect benefits from my ex husband because we were not married 10 years.

Wife will be 62 on March 2017. Husband was 66 in January 2017. Husband is not currently collecting Social Security. Husband has the social security higher earning record. Wife was works part time.
Can we do the following?
Wife would like to begin her benefits April 2017 at 62 and 1 month. Wife will file first.
Husband will file a restricted spousal benefit after wife files in April 2017 at 66 and 3 months.
Husband switches based on his earning for benefits in January 2021 at age 70

My wife who was born in 1953 will be FRA in June of 2019. She has no real work history and will be eligible only for spousal benefits when I draw them. I am 3 years younger as I was born in May of 1956. If I apply for my benefit when she turns 66 (her FRA) and I am 63 will she recieve 50% of my draw at 63 or 50% of my projected benefit that I would have received at my FRA? What would be my best stategy to maximize our total benefit over the years?

Hi,

Jerry, thank you for your very prompt reply! However, it leaves me with a serious question: You state “your wife and child couldn't get benefits on your record while your benefits are suspended”. Perhaps I don’t understand some nuance in your phrasing here, but this would seem to directly contradict the very premise of Larry & Paul’s book, which describes in the first few pages the genesis of the book in a conversation about the benefits of filing, suspending, and collecting spousal benefits.