Hi Larry,

This question is a bit different than most as receiving SS benefits is at least 13 years away for my wife and I. My wife and I were both born in 1969 (age 49 and 48 as of 2/1/2018). I have worked and paid into SS throughout my adult life and anticipate continuing until at least age 60 in my current job, and longer at a much reduced salary in a job after "retirement". My wife worked in Texas as a public school teacher for 10 years until she began to stay home with or twin daughters. Her school district did not pay into SS and instead paid into TRS (Teacher Retirement System of Texas) so she has a limited SS earnings history - summer jobs only during high school years. My daughters are now older and we are considering her going back to work part-time to pay into SS for her 40 quarters. Financially, we do not need the additional income from her returning to the workforce. Is there a benefit for her to have her own SS earning history instead of claiming spousal benefits? Her future part time earnings are not expected to be more than 1/4 of my earnings in the future (and probably much less than that). Essentially, should my wife take a job to get her 40 quarters of SS earnings?

Feel free to edit this as needed for brevity.

Thanks,
John

Hi John,

There are too many variables involved for me to be able to give you a yes or no answer, but it sounds like your wife may be able to get more Social Security if she qualifies for benefits on her own record. If she receives a pension from the Teacher Retirement System of Texas based on her earnings that were exempt from Social Security benefits, any Social Security spousal or widow's benefits she qualifies for would likely be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of her pension. This is due to the Government Pension Offset provision, or GPO (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

If your wife does qualify for Social Security retirement benefits on her own record, her benefit rate would likely be calculated using a less generous computational method due to the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf). But although WEP can result in a lower benefit rate than would normally be payable, it never reduces the amount payable to zero which can be the result in cases involving GPO.

Our maximization software handles both WEP and GPO and allows you to enter projected future year earnings, so you and your wife may want to try using it to determine the likely effect that returning to work would have on her benefits.

Best, Jerry