Tip #5: Align Your Claiming Age with Your Spousal Benefits and Legacy Goals
Your Social Security claiming age directly impacts your spouse, making this a crucial joint decision rather than an isolated, individual choice. Married couples have the unique opportunity to strategically coordinate their applications to maximize both immediate household income and long-term survivor protection. You must look at how your respective work histories and projected benefit amounts interact with one another.
The survivor benefit rules heavily favor the strategy of having the higher-earning spouse delay their claim for as long as possible. When one spouse passes away, the surviving widow or widower automatically inherits the highest single benefit between the two individuals. If the higher earner waits to claim Social Security at 70, they permanently lock in the absolute highest possible survivor benefit for their partner.
This approach provides incredible security for a surviving spouse who might face decades of living expenses alone, ensuring they do not experience a drastic drop in their standard of living. Meanwhile, the lower-earning spouse might choose to claim their own benefit at 62 to generate immediate, helpful household income, knowing the higher earner’s maximum benefit will eventually protect the surviving partner.
Discussing these profound legacy goals together ensures that both of you feel secure, valued, and confident about your shared financial future. Navigating spousal benefits requires open communication and a clear understanding of how one person’s timeline dictates the other person’s safety net.
As a CPA for over 30 years, I have had numerous clients where we had to make this decision. The ONLY situations where the client was better off delaying taking the payment was where they were continuing working.
You read that correctly.
Because of the government’s policy of reducing the Social Security benefit, Under no other scenario did it turn out better to delay taking their Social Security benefits.
Why?
Tax rates rarely went down. Between investments, part time work, and other factors (like inflation and state rate hikes), taxes actually increased during the retirement.
As the article itself says, the breakeven point after investing the excess funds (a total of $84,000+) is between 78-82. The combined number for men and women just hit 79. If all of the benefits begin at the same time as the average person dies, it makes no sense to delay taking your Social Security. You should note that the Chart showing the breakeven point does not accurately reflect those facts.
Do I take social security next year in June when I turn 67. I am retired and not working?
I retired at 64 to take care of my wife that had just had neck fusions front and back. I knew I would make less than at full retirement age, but weighed the difference and decided that 64 was right for me. I was already a retired Marine and had just retired as a County Deputy. I’ve been retired 9 years now and am extremely happy I retired early. What I would have lost by not retiring until 70, would have taken decades to get back, IF I would have lived long enough.
ABSOLUTELY!@@
Good information
My husband retired at 65 due to being ill should we had signed up for ssi disability?
I do turn 67 in June. Thankfully my health has been improving due to some good and forced choices. The plan is to start receiving my money back from social security on my birthday and pay off all my high interest loans through a debt avalanche. That will take a year. Then pay down our house another 4 years plus invest so we have approximately 100,000 in the bank with all debt paid.