Social Security Question about Spousal Benefits (anniversary, federal, 2015, accidents)

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by grlwthprl

To keep it simple: What if we take SS at the same time? Will I get 1/2 of his. My husband wants to work until age 70.

no , delayed credits from fra to 70 are never part of spousal. spousal only is up to 1/2 the fra amount regardless of when your husband files

[PNW to NEPA]

^Not quite correct, rjm1cc, as she will not get 1/2 of his delayed benefit. It will be 1/2 of his FRA benefit.

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by grlwthprl

I'll give you our ages and results of the SS.gov calculator, but I think I've figured this out:

I'm 61, husband is 63.

His full benefit at 70 = 3907.
My full benefit at 70 = 612.

So I'm assuming we will get 3907. + 1953.50 = 5860.50

this is wrong

fra is their amount a full retirement age not the delayed credit ages from fra to 70 ....


take his fra amount also called a primary amount , cut it in half , then take your fra amount not 70 and subtract it from his

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by PNW to NEPA

^Not quite correct, rjm1cc, as she will not get 1/2 of his delayed benefit. It will be 1/2 of his FRA benefit.

Thank you.
At death she will get the full amount of his benefit.
This is why it is good to do your research in advance of talking to the SS office.

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by grlwthprl

Maybe I should take benefits starting at 62.
I'll still get 1/2 of dh's full benefits at 70, correct?

no you get less than your husbands fra (66)? amount if you file early

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

Thank you.
At death she will get the full amount of his benefit.
This is why it is good to do your research in advance of talking to the SS office.

the answer is maybe ..she only gets his amount as a survivor benefit at her fra . survivor is reduced if she takes survivor earlier than her fra

[PNW to NEPA]

grlwthprl, as far as your filing early at 62, your permanent reduction would look like this:

Say your FRA benefit is $600
At 62 you get a reduced early benefit of $420

When your husband retires you will get a spousal add-on that is calculated as the difference between that $600 and 1/2 of his FRA benefit.
Let's say for example his FRA benefit is $2000. So your spousal bump will be $1000 (1/2 his FRA amount) minus $600 (your FRA amount) = $400.

That $400 will be added to your (reduced) benefit of $420 = $820/mo
Had you waited until your FRA age to file, the $400 spousal bump would be added to your FRA benefit of $600 = $1000/mo

[nicet4]

Best decision my wife and I ever made was to delay taking my taking benefits until age 70.

Had I taken it at 66 we could have lived on it but by waiting I got an extra $750 every month and that is our fun money!

But more important than the fun money is the knowledge that should something happen to me first, which is likely I suppose, she will collect my full benefit and be able to live very comfortably on just that if she had to. The knowledge of that allows me to sleep well at night. I owe it to her.

[mathjak107]

best decision we made is not waiting to 70...we were spending down our own assets at the rate of over 40,000 extra dollars a year up fronting the ss we were not getting on top of our regular portfolio draw so delaying was costing us a lot plus any gains on that money were given up as it was spent . those assets would be gone forever .along with their compounding ..plus my wife could not get 4500 a year extra added to her early benefit as spousal until i filed , so 65 was fine for us , i was also not protected under hold harmless from medicare increases while delaying so i paid more than my wife did . ...

delaying had a very big cost to go with that extra monthly payment for us .. i can see delaying being a slam dunk if you work that long and don't retire before you collect .. but because there is so much else that needs to be looked at in order to evaluate those extra payments , most people don't realize there is a big cost to it ..

depending on longevity risk vs market /interest rate risk either one can play out the better choice but you won't know which up front ..

[NewbieHere]

It depends on the individual situation. Mine took at 64.5, best if he did delay until FRA which is 66 for him. I earned more because I had more than 35 years, 36 years to be exact, so I take mine at 70. It’s a dongle approach, but I’m 8 years younger.