Hi! I’m applying to SS, as I’m retiring at the end of summer, at 63ish. The calculators bring up the question of do I want to apply for spousal benefits? My assumption is that I apply for mine, H applies for his when he retires in about three years, and that’s it. I don’t understand what spousal benefit means, or what effect it would have on either my or H’s benefits now or in the future. And getting a person on the phone at SS is nigh impossible.
Anyone here who can explain this to me as if you’re talking to a stupid person? (Honestly am not, but feel like one trying to understand SS-ese.) TIA!
Depending on the situation you can get the spousal benefit and delay taking your own until full retirement age. You get hammered taking the money early.
Very well could be. SO many variables and specific before and after dates. I have a client that is a widow and she is collecting benefits on her husbands until she reaches the point when her benefit will surpass his and she will receive the higher amount.
If you have been married for X years (I think it is 10) you can claim under your own earnings or get 1/2 of what your spouse gets (or will get).
My mother got spousal benefits when she first applied, so half of what my father was getting. My mother was still working, so still paying into her own ‘pot.’ At some point, she’d earned enough to get more on her own than 1/2 of fathers, so she switched over to her own benefits. When my father died, she started receiving his entire amount (but no longer her own). When she first started, she got about $800/mo, then kept working and got about $1200/mo. When he died, she went to $1900.
SS is very good at figuring out which is a better deal for you. If your husband was a high earner and you weren’t, or you only worked for a short period of your life, 1/2 of his might be more than yours. You have to know your benefit amount and his, and decide which is a better deal. Because you are retiring early (age 63), I don’t know if you get a reduced amount for his too (yours will be reduced for filings early).
I went to one of the free talks at our library. They are put on by financial planners looking for you to have them invest your money, but they are pretty good at explaining all your options. They talked about divorced people claiming under an ex-spouse, stay at home parents getting benefits, etc. It was worth an hour of my life!
I wish I could talk to an SS person. I put numbers in their calculators, but I don’t really understand what their answers mean. I estimated H’s full-time amount, and it gave me a spousal benefit of about 300 less than my own early amount. So, if I took that, does that mean at the FR age, I’d reapply and get my full amount, if I took his now?
As I understand it, unless you were born before 1954, you can’t collect your spousal benefit on your husband’s PIA and then change to your own.
Your spousal benefit would be to 1/2 of your husband’s PIA if you wait until full retirement age, but just like your benefit, it will be reduced based on claiming early.
Do not confuse survivor benefits with spousal benefits.
If your husband hasn’t applied yet, you will get benefits based on your own record until he applies. It will be reduced based on your age. When your husband applies, they will compare your amount vs your spousal amount and give you the higher of the two. Your spousal benefit will be reduced based on the age you started your own benefit. You can’t get spousal if your husband hasn’t filed yet.
I did the same thing - applied on my own then when my husband reached full retirement age, switched over to spousal. What you have to do is compare the few years of your reduced benefit vs the increased amount if you wait to file until husband does. Or, if your own benefit would be higher than spousal, compare the few years of reduced benefit vs your own full benefit if you wait until full retirement.
For me, it would have taken me something like 18 years at full benefits to gain back the missed years of reduced benefits. Husband’s earnings were much higher than mine since my high earning years were when Federal employees were not under SSA. Those earnings were therefore not part of the calculation. So I applied early.
Incidentally, I did work for SSA during those long ago years, including as a claims authorizer. The system has had adjustments but the basics haven’t changed much!
Please don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not saying anyone here is a dummy! But many folks on the Bogleheads forum recommend “Social Security For Dummies”. They claim that it explains things so much more clearly than the Social Security website. I haven’t read it myself so I can’t vouch for the recommendation, but it comes from a lot of financially savvy people on that forum.
@garland - have you downloaded the social security benefits statement for both you & spouse? I found it helpful in understanding how this might work for us.
Just spent a lot of time going over this. DH is younger then me and when he retires at 63+ years, I will be 65 and file for SS and qualify for medicare. He will have a pension and retirement money to draw from, and when he hits 65+, he will then file for SS and I will then switch to spousal benefits. I worked full time early on, but after marriage, only worked off and on or part time. I was lucky to get in enough quarters to qualify for SS.
I looked at a couple of sites, some recommended here on a CC thread, and we had our SS benefit statements.
It might not mean we will be maximizing our SS, but we were looking at best case scenario for us without waiting for full retirement age.
So, your spousal benefit would be bigger than your own benefit? Interesting, am I understanding that right? i’ll have to look into that. My benefit will be smaller than H’s, but I think not enough for it to make sense to take spousal, if I am grasping this.
But many folks on the Bogleheads forum recommend “Social Security For Dummies”. They claim that it explains things so much more clearly than the Social Security website. I haven’t read it myself so I can’t vouch for the recommendation, but it comes from a lot of financially savvy people on that forum.