Social Security for Spouses: One Claims at 62, The Other Delays to 70?

I am currently planning for my retirement next year and my wife's retirement in 2033. I haven't figured out how I'm going to tell her yet.

Does a divorced spouse get 50 percent of exspouses SS payment, or will they get 50 percent of their Ex's FRA regardless of when the higher earning spouse retired?

My wife took hers 2 months shy of her 66th b-day (FRA) 3 years ago. I'm taking mine in January 2024 4 months shy of my 70th b-day. By taking it 4 months early I am only losing only $55.00 a month.

I have watched dozens of videos and read many articles about spousal benefits and when to claim what, but can make no real sense of them. Unless of course it is super simple, but made so complicated in explanations.
My wife is 5 years younger than I and will have a very small payout of about $500/month. I on the other hand had 37 years of maximum contribution and am planning on waiting until age 70 to file mainly because if/when I die first, my retirement will only pay my wife 50% and she will inherit my SS payment. We don't really need the money right now, so waiting is not a problem. So in 5 years, she files for hers and in 8 years I file for mine. Seems so simple, but all these videos make it sound like I must be missing something.

In my opinion this is a horrible process, how many High income folks can carry on until 70 and continue working and if you plan on stopping and living on savings or investments I’d say 80% of good investment planners will say don’t hemorrhage your savings funds instead of social security money that let’s not forget is your money that you have contributed that you will never see a 100% return on( you won’t ever get back as much as you have put in) This is just bad advice in my opinion

If both spouses worked until SS age do they receive individual payments at the same rate they’d be entitled to if they were both single?

My wife just got a health insurance quote. She's 64, she has had some medical problems. The quote was for $1,250 a month. That is a big consideration!

All depends on one's need for cash and how much one saved over the years for retirement. Started maxing out my 401k at the age of 22 and now 58, it's grown into a great, incremental retirement. Still taking mine at age 70 as my glass is always half full and will focus on living versus how fast I will die.

Sounds like the best plan is the Do Not Die plan.

Very helpful

Curious, I intend retiring/working much less in 5 years and keen to know best, how people split their pay, how much of it goes into savings, spendings or investments? I earn up to $180K per year, but nothing to show for it yet

I always struggle with the idea of maximizing my Social Security benefit versus having additional income earlier in my retirement when we can really take advantage of it. I assume that our lifestyles will be slowing down by the time we hit 67 and certainly by 70. What benefit is that extra money then? Also, if I have ANY desire to leave money to my heirs, spending down my nestegg in favor of a larger SS payout benefits them not at all. The tax and RMD ramifications are a separate issue that takes a bit more work. It's complicated and I feel like we are rolling the dice, no matter what we decide. Thanks for the great information though, including the Open Social Security calculator. That was eye opening.

Lower at 62 and higher at 70… did this and was perfect for us…

How does a divorce impact social security payments?

What if the situation is reversed is as such, the higher earning spouse is eight years younger and the lower earning spouse is 70 and still working. Should the lowered earning spouse keep working to 70 or take at 62. Younger is still working

STOP SAYING "HERE" SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE KNOW IT'S "HERE"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, I’m 59 yrs old and I’m getting SSDI. My wife is 61. When she turns 62, can she draw off my ss even though I’m not at retirement age but am drawing my ss disability insurance? She doesn’t have much of a work history.

I noticed the Open Social Security calculator does not add any COLA to the benefit amount. It seems like that would affect the strategy in real life or does that wash out in the math somehow?

If you have enough in savings to carry those early years of retirement or are willing to work longer, and you expect to live past 80, delaying for the max benefit is a no-brainer in my opinion. Claiming early leaves too much on the table and life expectancy is only going to increase in the future as medicine advances. I'm 54 and single, still 8 or 9 years from retirement, but I plan to delay SS until 70. I'll have a decent nestegg by then and I really like the security of having that max garunteed income locked in for life so my portfolio doesn't have to do the heavy lifting. Fortunately, I'm in excellent health and I work hard to keep it that way so I plan on living it up for long time!

I'm 64 and the higher earner, wife is 62, I started ss at 64, if she claims ss at her full retirement age of 67 does she get 50% of my reduced ss payment or 50% of what I would have got if I waited till my full retirement age of 66 and 10 months?

My wife fast away last Sept 16 ,2023 .She file her disability retirement at age of 65 ..because shes been diagnose of liver cancer..im planning to survivors bnefits this year .this april 14 .im already 62 . and i make a part time to my company ..do i qualified mdical insurance from company .pls give me an advice . b

Based on the video - I think I know the answer, but want to double check... Both Spouses are currently 61.
One spouse earns much more that the other.
FRA Spouse 1 - $3000 - plans to collect SS at age 67.
FRA Spouse 2 - $500 - here is the question.....

--> Can Spouse 2 - collect their own SS at age 62, (about $350 at age 62), and then start collecting the full Spousal Top Off to get to $1500 at age 67?

Thanks Sir. This is the best video with the most helpul tools. I read many articles and watched videos but you could get confused for different situations. The SSA website has good explainations but only limited to 1 or 2 examples and they don't fit everyone's situation. The tools you listed solved all these complicated situations and the tools explained very clearly (sprousal benefits or survial benefits, and others)! I played a few cases like you showed on the video and results were very clear. The SSA calculator for PIA inside the "Open Social Security" link is another great tool that you can play around to decide if you or your spouse will work more years with expected SSA wages. It seems like most questions will be self-answered once you input the data into the tools.

Best video I've seen on when a married couple should claim.

Can a divorced lower earner take spousal benefit at 62 and then switch to their own full benefit at 70? Does the divorced person have to wait until the higher earner is receiving their benefit?

Are there any calculators that take into account spousal benefit if the spouse has a federal benefit?

How accurate do you think Open Social is? I think it's an awesome tool and applaud that it's free, but just wondering if it's something to rely on.

what does the irs think about commonlaw marriage?

I live in one of few states that’s impacted by WEP/GPO. This hurts police, firefighters,teachers, all state public servants. I stayed home to raise our kids and I am being penalized for it. I have 40 quarters in for social security. However, I didn’t make a lot nor will I get much in my pension because I don’t have enough years. Thank you America as I tried to do the right thing for America by staying with my kids. Maybe I should have been more selfish!

Am I missing something? There would seem to be a big hole in this strategy. If I take SS benefits early, assume I am getting 75% of full retirement, and my spouse with a larger SS waits till 70 and gets 130%, if she dies first I can switch to her SS, but I will only get it at the 75% level because I took benefits early. So, while I may get a slight increase in SS upon her death (by taking over her SS), it will be nothing close to what she was getting, because I only get it at 75%, not her 130% level. It make much more sense for us to both take SS at the same time (we are the same age). Maybe this works different for a spousal benefit type situation, but not for 2 full wage earners.

I was married in different country for 27yrs and my marriage ended as I MIGRATED USA and have no job when this happened. Can my ex still claim my social security still .

Amazing. The single most important factor in collecting Soc Sec $ early is your spouse's income. Your spouse earns more than $32K then your Soc Sec Benefit will get hammered. How in the hell do you leave out the single most important item a person has to know about filing for SS early ? How ? Outrageous.

This is specific for an individual’s situation. For example, if you don’t need the money you could argue to take it early and invest it. Or take it early and travel while healthy. Or you could delay and convert to Roth to fill up your tax bracket . If you are a single earner in the family, you can delay and provide a larger survivor benefit. For me I am delaying because I have inherited IRAs that need to come out before I turn 70. Also, SS colas are larger if delay and since only 85% is taxable, that will maximize the amount of tax free income.

Super useful video, thanks. Nice to see within virtually all parameters spouse claiming at 62 and me at 70 is the optimal strategy.

One of the most informative videos I've watched online for Social Security planning fine tuning for my wife and I.

Can someone explain the rationale of delaying claim all the way to 70. Because if you claim at 62, you will start to receive money now and have 8 years worth of moneys received ahead of age 70 (if you reach that age) even if the latter is higher monthly amount than the former…. lower_amountpermonth*12months*8years so you are way ahead than the other who delayed

If the stock market is down a good clip after turning 62 we will start 1 or both of our social security payments to let all of our stock holdings recover and grow

Love your videos and to be honest , according to your website, that one time fee of $685 to talk to you seems worth it. You are very knowledgeable and cool

Some say, "You don't know how long you'll live, so take it early." This is flawed logic because that statement can ALSO mean that they outlive their 90-yr old parents. Said another way, if someone said, "I think I'm going to live to 90, so I'm taking it now!", which makes no sense. To me, it's far worse to outlive your money than to leave some on the table, but everyone's free to make their own decisions.

Thanks for you video. I did go the that calculator. My spouse delaying till age 67 would get about $300 more month. That is not peanuts. It will cover most of SS medicare premium.

If a couple is healthy I don't see the wisdom in taking the spousal benefit earlier than full retirement for the spouse. The break even point is a little less than 10 years. Thoughts? Thanks again.

I think our situation turns everything upside down. My wife makes a lot less than me, but she’s 2 years older, and she gets a state pension instead of social security. She will get more with her ss spousal benefits than she gets with her state pension so it makes sense to go through all of the windfall provisions that cut her benefits by 2/3. But, this only works if she claims spousal at 67. Spousal benefits cap at FR age 67 so it makes no sense to delay. This means I have to start taking at 65. But good.

My thought is to leave my spouse in the best financial shape possible so 70 is the answer for the person making the most money or until you reach your full retirement age. If I did my job in supporting my family then the money we get is SUPPLEMENTAL. is what SS is supposed to be about. You should not need it but it allows you to have a very nice retirement.

Thank you! Very well explained.

Wife and I are the same age. Both have worked full time for 30+ years. Planning to claim one SS @62 and one @67 or 70. Should the lower earner or the higher earner claim first? (I will have a pension to collect at 62).

This is by far the best video I've seen, very very accurate, and I wish I had found it years ago! Well done.

My wife took her benifit at 63 and I’m 3 and 8 months younger than her . When I turn 62 and take my benefit early . She will be applying for spousal benefit and be 65 and 8 months will she get the spousal benifit based on her early date that she took her benifit or will the top off be at the higher rate

So no penalty for my wife taking early, 66 1/2, and me at 70? She will still be eligible for the additional money to essentially get her total benefit to equal 1/2 of my total when I turn 70?