i am 65. will be 66 in march 2019. i am still work and mostly like will till FRA. my wife of 40 years will be 64 in april 2019 and has not worked for 10+ yars. reading through all the file and suspend and file on spousal benefits, not sure best route to take to get her benefits where she maybe able to use some of my earnings. any suggestions?

Hi,

I would need additional information to know for sure, but one strategy you may want to at least consider would be for your wife to file for her own retirement benefits when you reach your full retirement age (FRA) of 66. That way, you could file a restricted application for spousal benefits starting at age 66 while letting your own benefit rate grow until age 70. That would not only provide you with a 32% higher retirement benefit rate than if you started drawing at age 66, but would also likely provide your wife with a 32% higher survivor rate should you die before her.

By the way, the reason that you have the option to file just for spousal benefits only at your FRA is due to the fact that you were born prior to January 2 1954, which exempts you from the new deeming rules passed by Congress in 2015 (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/deemedfaq.html).

Before making any final decisions, you and your wife should strongly consider using our software to fully compare all of your various options so that you can choose the best possible strategy for claiming your benefits.

Best, Jerry