I turn 65 on May 20, 2017 and my wife on April 22, 2018. We recently moved to MO and in with our daughter & son-in law. I am currently working part-time at Home Depot and feel sure I won't make any annual salary above $20K again.
I am considering starting to receive my SS benefits. Knowing that I will receive some money less (6.7%) than at 66, is there anything really keeping me from claiming now? Thanks,
Richard

Hi Richard,

Both you and your wife were born prior to January 2 1954, so you were grandfathered under the new deeming rules passed by Congress in 2015 (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/deemedfaq.html). That means that one of you could potentially file for spousal benefits only at full retirement age, while allowing your own benefit rate to grow until age 70. Whether or not this would be a good filing strategy in your case depends on your and your wife's work histories.

If you do file at age 65, your benefit rate will be roughly 6.67% less than your full retirement age rate, and close to 40% less than what you'd get if you waited until age 70 to start drawing. And, if you die before your wife, her widow's rate would be based on your full benefit rate, so your decision on when to file could affect her as well.

You may want to strongly consider running the maximization software available on this website before filing. That way you can explore all of your filing options and determine the best strategy for both you and your wife.

Best, Jerry