Hi,
My wife is 64 years old and quit her job a year ago. With no current or planned income, is there an obvious benefit for her to wait until full retirement age or later to file for Social Security Benefits? Since she is not making any paycheck contributions, it seems that she might a well start to collect ASAP. I am 61 and plan to work and contribute to my SS account for a few more years.
Thanks in advance for your consideration.
Tony

Hi Tony,

When to start drawing benefits is a personal choice, but if your wife starts drawing benefits at age 64, her benefit rate will be reduced by around 13% from her full retirement age (66) rate. Also, if she waits until age 66, she would have the option of filing just for a spousal benefit on your record, while allowing her own rate to increase by 8% per year until age 70. However, you would have to be drawing your benefits in order for your wife to receive spousal benefits.

Before filing, you and your wife may want to consider running the maximization software available on this website in order to explore all of your filing options.

Best, Jerry