Social Security Question for anyone who knows

[David Cramer]

I'm not there yet, but my question is the following: When you've been married for over 10 years you are able to get half of what your spouse gets. Example is if my spouse gets $3000 at 67, I'd get $1500 even if I'd be getting less without her.

So if you start taking social security at age 62 and get whatever amount you'd get individually, do you then get bumped up to half of your spouses if she waits till 67 to start taking hers and you are now 67 as well?

Numbers example is I'd be getting $700 at age 62 but once I start taking it, would I bump up to half of hers at age 67. Financial advisor didn't know for sure.

Has anyone had this experience?

Thank you very much

[Ron Citerone]

I've read enough to have a plan for myself and my wife. Our situation is a lot different than yours. I suggest you read up on this and perhaps you need an advisor who knows the ins and outs of SS. There are lots of strategies for different situations and you want o make sure you see all the options for you. My 2 cents.

Good luck Ron

[David Cramer]

Thanks Ron. I've truly been reading and searching but haven't found the answer yet. My financial advisor knew some stuff, but not my question. I appreciate the response.

[Frank Pasqualone]

Hi David - like others, I don't know the answer to your exact question. I am now able to collect SS but my circumstances are much different than yours. My suggestion is to call Social Security yourself. I called them with a number of questions before I made retirement decisions. The bad news is that you will wait on hold for a long time (45 minutes-ish). The good news is that the people i got on the phone to talk to me were pleasant, knowledgeable, answered many questions, went through lengthy explanations including numbers, and then followed it up with written correspondence via mail. I was pleasantly very surprised for a government agency. The other reason I suggest you call yourself is that I found many people that "knew a lot" about Social Security, my financial planner included, but none of them knew it well enough to make me comfortable with major decisions around SS. Good luck!

I'm not there yet, but my question is the following: When you've been married for over 10 years you are able to get half of what your spouse gets. Example is if my spouse gets $3000 at 67, I'd get $1500 even if I'd be getting less without her.

So if you start taking social security at age 62 and get whatever amount you'd get individually, do you then get bumped up to half of your spouses if she waits till 67 to start taking hers and you are now 67 as well?

Numbers example is I'd be getting $700 at age 62 but once I start taking it, would I bump up to half of hers at age 67. Financial advisor didn't know for sure.

Has anyone had this experience?

Thank you very much

[Ralph Okonieski]

Try calling your local SS office rather than the national 1-800 number. We have had better luck with our local office than the national number. Spousal benefits are very complicated. We have encountered numerous problems because of them.

[Sam Force]

In our situation my wife retired at 62, with a reduced amount for retiring early. I waited another 4 years to retire at 65+ years old. She was due a higher amount due to being eligible based on my amount of SS but since she had retired early she did get an increase in her SS but it was reduced due to her early retirement. It cost her around $300 per month less than if she had waited. But on the other hand she received SS for 4 years

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Some ex spouses are awarded a percentage of social security benefits even decades in advance by divorce courts. When I was 65, I was trying to figure out whether to put off collecting until later. I could never get a straight answer in English from anyone at the social security office. It was always some canned response in bureaucrat mumbo jumbo that made no sense. In addition, if I keep working and keep paying in, what adjustments are made, if any. Can't get an straight answer. A former boss put off collecting SS until the last, I believe 67 but continued working and had one of the best years ever for earned income and his benefits did not go up, even though he still pays in. I heard a story from an accountant, that a self employed guy wanted to file much higher income amounts than he actually earned, his last 5 years, to maximize social security even though he hadn't paid in for 30 years. The guy was willing to pay taxes on a fictitious income just to boost social security.

I invested in a farm property for the right offs and to fund retirement. Every time I get ready to sell, the market sours.

[Larry Frank]

Wow....an amazing number of comments and various answers.

My wife and I used a great financial adviser. We looked at all sources of income, expenses and debts to make the determination. He was able to help forecast our income for years out ahead to make the best choices. There is no one universal answer

[Stan Calow]

As mentioned, the most important question is unanswerable: how long will you live? Thats why it's just a big guess. Our planner bases all projections on an assumption that we will both live until 90. But obvuiously, they dont know. There is a break even point for whether you will get more total benefit from drawing early, versus waiting till full retirement age. For me, I calculated that if I lived past 82, it would make sense to wait until 67, but my guess is I won't so I started at 63.

The SSA people I talked to were trained to scrupulously avoid giving kind of advice, rather, just to lay out the facts and numbers. You have to pay for better advice. And then, of course, inflation, politics, and mother nature all have a say in it.

[Jim Becker]

I retired at age 60 and likely would have waited until 65 to start SS income, but chose to take it at 62 because it provided a benefit to our disabled daughter and more or less doubled her income from SSA and helps her live "independently". (quotes because further subsidies are required for that in reality because living expenses are high...) While I was at it, I paid off my vehicle in three years since I had the extra income to do so. If I was relying on SS as my primary income, taking it early would have been less attractive, but everyone's situation is different. So I agree that there is great value in working with a qualified planner to determine what's the best way forward. We are about to do that for Professor Dr. SWMBO as she's retiring at the end of the Spring term for medical reasons at age 64. It's likely going to be just fine with her waiting until "full" eligibility after her 65th birthday, but there's value in running the numbers for sure.

[Bill Dufour]

What I do not understand is if you make more income do you get more SS when you retire. Assuming years of service and ages are identical.
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

What I do understand is if you make more income do you get more SS when you retire. Assuming years of service and ages are identical.
Bill D

Essentially yes.

From SSA:

Summary
Social Security benefits are typically computed using "average indexed monthly earnings." This average summarizes up to 35 years of a worker's indexed earnings. We apply a formula to this average to compute the primary insurance amount (PIA). The PIA is the basis for the benefits that are paid to an individual.
The formula used to compute the PIA reflects changes in general wage levels, as measured by the national average wage index. We have constructed examples to illustrate how retirement benefits are calculated.

More... https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/Benefits.html

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I had a very bad bout with Crohn's disease in the late 1980's and barely had any income for two years. So that drug down my average for the 35 years. So if after I started collecting, I continued to work and pay into the system, even at part time wages, the amount would be more than my 1987. and 1988 incomes. I can't get them to give me an answer, despite the fact that I continued working and paying since I started collecting. Now we can say that an average over 35 yrs doesn't amount to much, but I turned down a lucrative full time job that for 11 months contract would have paid $92K. That would have boosted my average by a a couple grand per year. or about 160 a month. Three of my grandparents lived into their 90's. One died at 65 from a lung condition after working in quarries for 40 years. But his parents both lived to see 90. I turned down the job, in part because I would have had to get rid of our pets and livestock to travel, but also because I couldn't get an answer from SS

[Mark Rainey]

I retired at age 60 and likely would have waited until 65 to start SS income, but chose to take it at 62 because it provided a benefit to our disabled daughter and more or less doubled her income from SSA and helps her live "independently". (quotes because further subsidies are required for that in reality because living expenses are high...) While I was at it, I paid off my vehicle in three years since I had the extra income to do so. If I was relying on SS as my primary income, taking it early would have been less attractive, but everyone's situation is different. So I agree that there is great value in working with a qualified planner to determine what's the best way forward. We are about to do that for Professor Dr. SWMBO as she's retiring at the end of the Spring term for medical reasons at age 64. It's likely going to be just fine with her waiting until "full" eligibility after her 65th birthday, but there's value in running the numbers for sure.

Jim, I assume "full" eligibility for you and your wife is not 65, but closer to 66 2/3.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, I assume "full" eligibility for you and your wife is not 65, but closer to 66 2/3.

1957/1959 vintage respectively...I never looked at the details, honestly. But we will certainly be examining said details as The Professor moves into actual retirement and we want to make a "when" decision on that. We have flexibility since, as noted, SS isn't our primary source of retirement income so the balancing act revolves around what maximizes the best use of available resources.