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I always thought WEP impacted survivors benefits for the lower earning spouse but now it appears I might have been wrong?
My wife worked a little outside the home but for a number of years she worked for county government earning a small state pension of $600/month.
Upon reaching FRA she applied for sposal benefits based upon my FRA benefit of $2,300/month which came to $1,150 for her.
However, her $1,150 benefit was reduced by two thirds of her state pension or $400. In total she receives ($1,150-$400=$750) $750 in social security plus $600 for the state pension.
But what happens to her if I die first and my SS benefit is $3,100 only because I did not file for benefits until age 70?
I always thought and planned for her to receive my $3,100 less $400 for her pension giving her $2,700 of my social security.
But the way I read some articles it appears her SS survivor's benefit from me will not be impacted by her pension and WEP?
If this is true it is the best news ever and I have been planning on her having $400 less every month for the past several years! $400 extra for a widow is a lot.
So if I die first how much money, based upon the figures given above, can she expect from Social security?
I hope my bubble isn't popped but I need to know the real answer.
Thank you all for your input on this subject that is a very important and dear to me.
If you are talking about the reduction to a spousal or widow benefit where the spouse or widow receives a pension for years that he/she did not pay into Social Security, the Government Pension Offset GPO (not WEP) applies to spousal and widow benefits. My understanding is that the same reduction she receives as a spouse will also be applied to her widow benefits.
If you are talking about the reduction to a spousal or widow benefit where the spouse or widow receives a pension for years that he/she did not pay into Social Security, the Government Pension Offset GPO (not WEP) applies to spousal and widow benefits. My understanding is that the same reduction she receives as a spouse will also be applied to her widow benefits.
Welp, if that is correct then I won't retiring a year early after all.
I was a teacher for about 15 yrs--early before we had kids, and later after they were in college. Had other jobs that paid into SS as well, one of which was working for my state HHS Dept...I was able to use those years as credit toward my teacher retirement program and buy other years of retirement credit to get more credit--I retired w/20 yrs which made difference in my annuity amount.
At the time I took early retirement SS was planning to close a loophole teachers could use to protect their spousal benefit from the GPO offset...we had to work a short time half a day or so at job within the retirement system that deducted for the retirement plan as well as SS....
The amount you earned how to be enough to raise your pension annuity even by small amount.
I worked for the Dallas ISD doing clerical work for half a day---made about $40 but the amount of the deductions were enough to raise my monthly annuity from TRS 5 cents...
So that was my last employment in education.
I retired later that summer and the loophole closed in September that year...
There were thousands of teachers and other education employees like school secretaries who retired trying to protect their spousal benefits but there were not that many places where they could work that paid into SS and TRS to make use of the loophole...
I was lucky--had started asking in December and was given a spot...
Was able to help a friend do the same thing...
There were many people I knew--mainly women--who retired and started drawing their TRS pensions and did not realize until they tried to file for their spousal SSA benefit that they would not receive the full amount because of the GOP offset...
Some of them took a significant cut because their TRS pension was higher than mine due to teaching longer and having an advanced degree which meant higher salary...
This was not an item that the school district's brought to your attention...
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