Wife collecting SS @ 62 and I wait to 66 or 70.

[lenora]

Originally Posted by arwenmark

I am under the impression that if the wage earner were to die before the spouse was full retirement age they could wait to receive survivor benefits untill they were full retirement age, is that different if they are already collecting their portion of the wage earners benefit when the wage earner retires?

I am not aware of any regulation that prevents a widow from waiting until she reaches full retirement age to apply for survivor benefits. However, spousal benefits are terminated when the wage earner dies.

Reminder: Some Social Security policies WILL change in the near future. None of knows which of the policies will change.

[rjm1cc]

I did not read all the posts so this might have been covered. Agree waiting until 70 is a good idea. But at age 66 you should check and see if yours spouce could get move money by claiming on your account If she can go to the SS office with her and you fille a claim for your benefits and she files a claim for the spousal benefits. You then (same office visit) file a suspension of your benefits. Thus you get no checks and she starts getting a check from your account. There is no benefit to her waiting untly you get to age 70 to claim the spousal benefit. She should claim when you are 66.

[GLS]

Most of the comments on this thread appear to assume there is a primary bread-winner with a spouse that is due a much lower SS benefit or none at all. What is the best strategy if both people are due about $2000/month at full retirement age (FRA), but one is 64 years old now and the other is 59 y.o.? What if the part-time salary of each would exceed the max allowed in the years prior to FRA? Should one start drawing benefits early, both wait until FRA, or one wait until 70?

PS Problem summary: wife wishes to quit work early, but not quit spending.

[lynxville]

There are a lot of opinions on when to retire, but lets talk about life expectancy. If you croak early why put off retirement? Do the math on how much money you receive each month at 62 retirement age, then compute how many years at 66 or 67 or age 70 it would take you to receive from SS to equal what you have already received from 62 on. For me it was a no brainer, 62. Now if you need the cash to retire and have to wait that's another story. I will never, never, never, did I say never regret retiring early.

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by nicet4

Her social security is small just $550 but she gets a small state pension on top of that of $276 so it is $826. Will be kind of nice.

I want to wait until I am at least 66 (under three years) and 70 if I can which I should be able to.

If she collects now when I start collecting mine @ 66 (around $2,150/month) will her social security be increased to 50% of mine?

What about the small pension she gets?

Did not read all the posts and the answer has probably been given.
I think your answer is for her to collect on her own account now. When you are 66 you sign up to collect. Your wife then takes her spousal benefit. You suspend your benefits - never get a check or if you do get a check return it. At 70 you start your benefits. This gives you the max dollars. Now if you die before she does she will get 50% or your benefit (which is a lot higher because you waited until 70).
By the way your 2150 will go up about 8% each year if you wait until 70. Your wifes spousal benefit will not increase from what it is at age 66 if you wait until she is 70.
Call SS and make an appointment to go to their office if convent or to have a phone meeting and verify what you want to do. I have found the employees very nice but the answers are not always correct so you may need a few calls.
Look at this http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10127.pdf and page 12 or 13 mentions suspend. One of the very few places you will see it. There is a form you have to fill out to suspend so ask for that. (It is ssa 521.)