My wife passed away in 1996. I turn 60 in Sep 2018. I was told by SS that my widower's/survivors benefit would be $1615/month in Sep 2018. My wife's contributions were: $15159, $23737, $28758, $33363, $40010, $36988, $36346 from 1990 to 1996, respectively. My own benefits will be $1716 (at 62), $2381(at 66, 8 months), and $3016 at 70. In fact my benefits will be slightly higher than the amounts shown above after considering 2017 contributions.

My questions are:
1) Does the widower's benefit increase if I wait till 66 and 8 months of age to apply?
2) Does it make sense to apply when I turn 60?
3) My plan was to apply for widower's benefit when I turn 60 and apply for my own benefit when I turn 70. Is this the optimal way to get the maximum benefits?
4) Will applying for widower's benefit automatically apply benefit with my work records as well?
5) I am planning to retire at the end of 2017.
6) Is the widower's benefit $1615 correct per your calculator?

Regards.

Hi,

Your widower's benefit rate would be higher if you wait until full retirement age to apply as opposed to filing at age 60, but since you will be switching to your own record at age 70, you want to receive as much in widower's benefits before then as possible. So, it will almost certainly be best for you to file for widower's benefits at age 60, then apply separately for retirement benefits on your own record at age 70. However, you may want to run the maximization software on this website in order to be sure.

The amount of your widower's benefit is based on an average of a variable number of years of your wife's earnings. If she died at age 50 for example, 23 years of earnings would be used in the computation. Also, the earnings amounts are indexed for changes in average annual wages (https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/piaformula.html). So, I can't tell you whether or not the benefit estimate you received is accurate given the limited amount of information in your question. The maximization software should be able to give you an accurate computation, though.

Best, Jerry