My husband will be at full retirement in April 2023. He will begin drawing at that time. When can I draw spousal benefits? If I do will my personal benefits continue to grow?

Hi. Assuming that you're at least age 62, you could claim spousal benefits as early as the first month that your husband starts drawing his benefits. However, unless you were born prior to January 2 1954 you can't apply for spousal benefits without also being forced to claim your own benefits at the same time (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/claiming.html). So, if you were born after January 1 1954, the only way that you'd qualify for spousal benefits is if your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than twice as much as your own PIA. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

If you were born prior to January 2 1954, though, and if you aren't already drawing your own benefits, you could then claim spousal benefits when your husband starts drawing his benefits while allowing your own Social Security retirement benefit rate to keep growing until you reach age 70.

Regardless of when you were born, though, your best filing strategy depends on numerous different variables. You and your husband may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of your various options so that you can determine the best overall strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry