I am 64 and my wife is 55. My SS benefits will be significantly higher than hers because she was a stay at home mom for many years. Financially, I am able to delay claiming until I’m 70, but when and how should my wife claim?

Hi,

I can't make that decision for your wife. She could file for benefits as early as age 62, but then her benefit rate would be significantly reduced (i.e. by 30% to 35%) for as long as both of you are living. Even if your wife does start drawing at age 62, though, that would not cause her to receive a reduced survivor rate as long as she's at least full retirement age (FRA) when and if she later qualifies for survivor benefits.

Whenever your wife does file for her benefits she'll be deemed to be filing for both her own Social Security retirement benefits and for spousal benefits. She'll then essentially just receive the higher of those 2 benefit rates, which will be reduced for age if she starts drawing before FRA.

You and your wife should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully explore and compare all of your various options so that you can determine the strategy that you believe would most likely maximize your benefits.

Best, Jerry