If my wife claims at 62, how will that affect her benefit when I die? ( I will not start my benefit for another two years at age 70). Will it be smaller overall because she started at 62. Thanks very much.

Hi,

No, regardless of when your wife starts drawing her own benefits she could receive up to your full benefit amount as a survivor if you die before her. She wouldn't get both her own benefit rate and yours, however, just the higher of the two.

For example, say Joni files for her benefits at age 62. Joni's full retirement age rate would be $1500, but she instead receives a reduced rate of $1100 in return for starting her benefits early. Joni's husband Bill waits until age 70 to apply for his benefits, and he receives an increased rate of $2640 instead of his full retirement age rate of $2000. If Bill dies before Joni and if Joni is at least full retirement age (FRA) at the time she becomes entitled to survivor benefits, she would receive a combined benefit rate equal to Bill's full benefit amount of $2640. Technically, Joni would continue to receive her own $1100 retirement benefit plus a survivor amount of $1540 from Bill's record, but the total would be based on Bill's full benefit amount.

Furthermore, if Joni in the example above starts drawing her benefits before Bill reaches age 70, Bill could potentially file for spousal benefits only on Joni's record if he's at least FRA and if he was born prior to January 2 1954. In that case Bill could start out drawing a spousal benefit of $750 (i.e. 50% of Joni's full retirement age rate) and then switch to his own higher retirement benefits at age 70.

You and your wife should strongly consider using our software to fully explore and compare your options so that you can choose the best possible strategy for claiming your benefits.

Best, Jerry