I have two questions. If it appears that at my full retirement age, 66-1/2, we will hit the max of the family benefit (my Social Security, and my husband claiming on mine), is there still an advantage to me working until I'm 70?

The second question is more complicated. My husband and I have only been married 5 years. He's retired from the Canadian military and will receive not only his pension but also CPP and OAS from Canada. We're trying to figure out whether we should just proceed to handle those separately, which is permissible, or whether we should look into totalization. But everything you read says you talk to Social Security about totalization at the time of retirement — not five or 7 years out from retirement, as we are right now. Do you know of any way we can estimate what totalization would yield, vs. my husband collecting separately from both countries? He will be working long enough here in the States to qualify for his 40 credits before he retires, but at a much lower rate of pay than the latter part of his naval career, if that makes any difference. And don't forget to factor in the exchange rate! That's always a fun challenge, too!

Hi,

I think that you may be misunderstanding the family maximum benefit (FMB). The FMB is a limit on the amount of Social Security benefits that can be paid on any one person's record. There is no set limit on how much a couple can individually receive based on their own work records.

In any case, the answer to your first question is yes. If your full retirement age (FRA) is 66 1/2 and you wait until age 70 to start drawing your retirement benefits, your rate will be at least 28% higher than what it would be if you started drawing them at FRA. The FMB has no effect on that. If you continue to work and pay into Social Security after FRA, that may increase your rate even further.

Regarding your second question, totalization benefits are only involved when a person does not have enough work credits to qualify for a regular Social Security benefit from either the U.S. or one of the countries with which the U.S. has a totalization agreement. If your husband qualifies for a Canadian pension without using U.S. credits, and U.S. Social Security retirement benefits under the normal insured status requirements (i.e. 40 quarters of coverage), then totalization won't be involved in his case.

What it sounds like will likely be involved in your husband's case is the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). If your husband receives both a CPP pension and a U.S. Social Security retirement benefit, the latter benefit will be calculated using a less generous computation formula unless he meets an exception to WEP. For more information on WEP and its exceptions, refer to this Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf.

You and your husband may want to strongly consider using the maximization software available on this website to determine your best strategy for claiming Social Security benefits. The software is fully programmed to handle WEP considerations.

Best, Jerry