Standard “you’re not my legal advisor, etc.” disclaimers apply here…
Situation:
1st spouse is eligible for social security (i.e. has worked over 40 quarters).
2nd spouse has not, so 2nd spouse is only eligible for spousal social security of “one half of 1st spouse’s benefit”.
2nd spouse is 3 years older than 1st spouse.
(Note: the dollar values below are made up, just so that the question may be asked clearly.)
1st spouse retires at 62 years old. At 62, 1st spouses benefit is, say, $1200 / month. If 1st spouse had waited until 65, monthly benefit would be (say) $1500.
2nd spouse takes the spousal benefit at the same time as 1st spouse, but 2nd spouse is then 65.
Here is the question:
Would the spousal benefit for the 2nd spouse be 1/2 of the 62 yrs old benefit, so spousal benefit would be 1200 / 2 = $600 / month?
Or would the spousal benefit be 1/2 of the 65 yrs old benefit (because the 2nd spouse is then 65), or 1500 / 2 = $750 / month?
This is a question that I haven’t been able to get a clear answer on. PLEASE DON’T GUESS at this answer. Only answer if you have experience or education with this answer.
No experience, so I hope you’ll forgive my “answer”, which is that I feel your confusion. I’ve never entirely understood the spousal benefit. Right now they seem to be suggesting that spouse B file for spousal benefits based on A’s earnings even if B is entitled separately, A also files but deters, then somehow later B files for his/her own benefits. I definitely don’t follow it.
There’s an interesting article at Forbes. I don’t know if there’s anything there you hadn’t already looked into. I can make some guesses based on what’s on the second page of that article but I admit those would just be guesses, so I won’t.
Do you have any contact with a financial planner? If so, they may have access to some tools that would provide different “what if” scenarios and the results of retiring under those scenarios.
Thanks for your reply. I read the article, but didn’t feel very enlightened by it. It’s a very complicated subject. About a year ago I was in contact with Financial Planner. The result: based on my age estimates, we should both apply for SS when I retire at 62. The real problem is that we don’t know how long we’re going to live.
I don’t have a definitive answer yet, but from what I can tell, it seems like the benefit is based on the age of the 2nd spouse - when that spouse starts taking benefits. So in the above example, $750 is the amount of the benefit. We’re going to make an appt. with the SS office to try to get a definitive answer.