Welcome to Ask Money Talks News, a series answering financial questions submitted by Money Talks Newsletter subscribers.
In this installment, we’re talking about a Social Security claiming strategy that is available to married individuals. It involves one spouse claiming their own retirement benefit early and later applying for their spousal benefit.
Doreen C. asks Money Talks News:
“I qualify for Social Security on my own, but my husband’s Social Security is higher and I was thinking about claiming half of his. I understand I can claim my Social Security at 62 and then when my spouse and I both turned 67 and he claims his Social Security, I can claim half of his even though I claimed my Social Security at 62. Every place I’ve looked has conflicting answers. Can you tell me if I can claim my own at 62 and then claim half of my husband‘s or the difference between my 62 amount and his half with the 30% discount at 67?”
Thanks for your question, Doreen. Yes, you can start receiving Social Security benefits as early as age 62. You would receive a reduced monthly benefit amount that is based on your earnings record.
(For those who don’t know, someone who claims Social Security benefits before reaching what the government refers to as their full retirement age typically receives a reduced benefit rather than their full retirement benefit amount.)
When you reach your full retirement age — which I’m assuming is 67 based on your description of your situation — you can apply for your full retirement benefit and your spousal benefit. (You’re required to file for both at the same time, which is known as deemed filing.)
If the reduced benefit amount you started receiving at 62 is less than half your spouse’s benefit, you can then apply to receive the difference between your retirement benefit amount and half your spouse’s benefit amount.
Theoretically, that could increase your total monthly benefit amount to half your spouse’s full benefit amount. In reality, though, your spousal benefit amount wouldn’t be quite that much since you have claimed your own benefit early.
So, exactly how much would your spousal benefit be at that point? It’s impossible for me to say. The Social Security Administration offers free online calculators that can give you a better idea, but even they can’t give you an exact answer. That’s because your or your spouse’s income situation could change between now and when you become eligible for spousal benefits, which would affect your spousal benefit amount.
A couple of other notes:
- Whether your husband claims his Social Security when he reaches his full retirement age or decides to wait until he is 70 (which would give him the largest possible benefit), it will not affect your application for spousal benefits.
- Even if your spouse delays claiming until 70, you cannot receive more than half of his full retirement benefit amount — meaning the amount he was eligible to receive upon reaching his full retirement age, not the larger amount he’d receive if he waited longer to claim.
How to Ask Money Talks News
You can submit a question for the Ask Money Talks News series for free. Here’s how:
- Hit “reply” to the Money Talks Newsletter.
- Change the email subject line to Ask Money Talks News.
- Put your question in the email. Make sure to include enough detail for us to fully understand your question and any relevant context — but keep it all under 50 words.
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We can’t answer every question we receive, of course, but we do prioritize questions from Money Talks News members and questions that apply to a majority of our audience.
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