To all the Social Security experts here

[BellaDL]

Originally Posted by Perryinva

The only end of April deadline is to File & Suspend. He can still file at anytime, though, and once she reaches FRA she can file anytime for spousal. That hasn't changed. F&S by end of April just gives them a little flexibility.

Perry,

One can not get spousal benefit before the spouse file for SS (since she will reach FRA before her husband reaches 70). To maximize the couple benefit, it's best for the husband to delay collecting his benefit until 70.

This means he has to file and suspend before April 30 this year since this option is going away.

F&S does not just mean flexibility in this case, it means the wife can starts collecting at FRA at 66 and the husband can delay collecting 6 months later at 70 (+ not losing any DRCs since he is born on 12/12/46, collecting mid year at 69.5 means losing 6 months of DRCs and not having 6 more months of DRCs for the rest of SS payments).

Without F&S, the husband has to file at 69.5 so that his wife can collect at 66. The other option is the wife delays collecting spousal benefit until her husband get his max benefit at 70. This means she loses 6 months of spousal benefits.

Bottom line is that the husband should file and suspend ASAP before the end of this month.

[Perryinva]

I thought those points were obvious. What wasn't obvious, and the major reason he should F&S is the increased lump if something should happen that requires him to want a cash out. Actually, the better answer, no longer available to him now,mwas for him to have F&S at his FRA. Why anyone that was eligible, didn't take advantage of it at FRA is beyond me. It was a standard mantra in all the old SS articles until the new changes. All pros, no cons.

[mathjak107]

believe it or not so few delayed and even knew about the enhanced spousal benefits it never was a problem .

but the last few years the media and internet spread the word . folks have been delaying longer the last few years and more and more learned about it . so ss terminated it before it became to widely known .

[loves2read]

And to me the almost certainty that there will be more marriages with spousal rights attached eventually between same sex partners and that unforeseen option originally created in Clinton's presidency had the potential to skew the spousal benefit/file-suspend numbers of future applicants even more...
A true unintended consequence...

[loves2read]

And more money if done this month...