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Higher-earning spouses should wait to claim — but lower-earning spouses may not want to

First things first, it often makes sense for a higher-earning spouse to delay their claim for Social Security benefits as long as possible, ideally until age 70. This can be a smart move because:

  • Most people who wait until 70 end up getting more lifetime income because life expectancies have climbed since the Social Security benefits formula was first calculated.

  • If a higher-earning spouse waits until 70 to claim benefits, the couple can maximize the lifetime income as benefits increase, by way of delayed retirement credits, each month you put off claiming beyond age 62.

  • When a higher earner waits to claim benefits, this can increase survivor benefits if the higher earner dies first, because the surviving spouse gets to keep the higher of the two benefits coming into the household.

For all of these reasons, if your husband made more money than you throughout your respective careers, it's smart for him to wait to claim his benefits at 70.

By delaying beyond full retirement age (FRA), he can increase his standard payment (known as his primary insurance amount) by 24% if his FRA is 67. That's the FRA for anyone born in 1960 or later. This higher benefit will also be passed on to you if you outlive your husband.

However, you most likely should not wait to claim spousal benefits until age 70. Doing so could leave a lot of money on the table.

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This is how a lower-earning spouse should handle Social Security

You need to understand how spousal benefits work to see why you shouldn't wait to claim at age 70. Here are the basics:

  • Your maximum spousal benefit is going to be 50% of your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). Remember, this is the benefit calculated at his full retirement age.

  • If you claim benefits before your FRA, then you shrink the spousal benefits you get to below this 50% cap.

  • If you claim benefits at your FRA, you get the full 50% of his PIA.

  • If you claim benefits beyond your FRA, you still get only 50% of his PIA — you don't get to earn delayed retirement credits.

Since your spousal benefit won’t go up, there is no advantage in waiting to claim the benefit until after your FRA. There's only one reason to wait: Because you aren't yet eligible for spousal benefits.

This can happen if your husband hasn't claimed his own retirement checks. You can't claim benefits on a spouse's work record if your spouse doesn't yet have his retirement benefits coming in.

If you and your husband are the same age, or you are older and he waits until 70, you're stuck waiting by default. His benefits will grow, but your spousal benefit won't. As soon as he hits 70, you can claim your spousal payments — but even if, say, you're 85, you won't get more than 50% of his PIA and you'll have left years of spousal benefits on the table.

If you're younger than your husband, though, you should claim at your FRA as soon as he claims his retirement benefits and thus triggers your eligibility. Let's say you are 68 when your husband turns 70. You'd already have passed your FRA, so you would want to claim your spousal benefits the minute you can.

There's also another strategy to try. If you qualify for your own retirement benefits, no matter how small, you can claim them well before your higher-earning spouse gets his checks. Then, as soon as your spouse claims his benefits, you'd switch over to the spousal ones if the amount is larger.

Having a lower-earning spouse claim Social Security first is a very common strategy, because the lower earner doesn't need to max out their own benefit since they'll just switch to spousal payments eventually. This is something worth considering, as getting your checks started while you wait for your husband to claim later could allow you to maximize your combined lifetime income.

Since this can all be confusing, it may be worth talking to a financial adviser about your options. They can help you to develop the best claiming strategy for you and your husband.

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Christy Bieber Freelance Writer

Christy Bieber a freelance contributor to Moneywise, who has been writing professionally since 2008. She writes about everything related to money management and has been published by NY Post, Fox Business, USA Today, Forbes Advisor, Credible, Credit Karma, and more. She has a JD from UCLA School of Law and a BA in English Media and Communications from the University of Rochester.

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