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

Hi B. Here's what I can tell you. Whenever you apply for benefits you'll be deemed to be filing for both spousal benefits and your own Social Security retirement benefits. You'll then basically be paid only the higher or the two benefit rates and your benefit rate will be reduced for age if you claim benefits prior to your full retirement age (FRA).

If you wait until FRA to claim benefits then you'll be due the higher of your own benefit rate or 50% of your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA), which is equal to his full Social Security disability (SSDI) benefit rate. You can claim benefits as early as age 62, but your benefit rate will then be reduced to roughly 65% to 70% of your FRA amount.

Regardless of when you start drawing your retirement and/or spousal benefits, you could still potentially qualify for an unreduced widow's benefit if your husband dies before you. As long as you're at least FRA when you start drawing widow's benefits you can be paid up to the full benefit amount that your husband was collecting, even if you started drawing retirement/spousal benefits at age 62.

I have no way of knowing whether or not you qualify for a PERA pension, but if you do receive a pension based on your work where you didn't pay Social Security taxes then that will likely cause what you could otherwise receive from Social Security to be reduced. That's due to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision. WEP (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf) can cause your own benefit rate to be reduced, and GPO (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf) can cause your spousal benefits to be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your PERA pension.

I would suggest that you first find out if you're eligible for a PERA pension, and what your approximate benefit rate would amount to. You could then use our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry