Dear Larry,

My husband took early social security benefits at age 63 in 2007. I will be 62 in 2017 and we have been married for more than 30 years. I believe I cannot take a spousal benefit and suspend mine. I have worked enough quarters to qualify for my own benefits. He was always the higher income earner in our family. I need help trying to figure out which would be the greater amount; mine or spousal?

Thanks, Victoria

Dear Victoria,

Under the new law passed in November and given your age of birth, you need to take both your own retirement benefit and your spousal benefit if you take one of the two. Your total check will equal your own retirement benefit, reduced if you take it early and increased if you take it after full retirement age, plus your excess spousal benefit, reduced if you take it early. Your excess spousal benefit equals the difference between 50 percent of your husband's full retirement benefit (not his reduced retirement benefit) less 100 percent of your own retirement benefit augmented by any Delayed Retirement Credits you receive if you delay taking your retirement benefit until after full retirement age or if you suspend your retirement benefit and restart it. If you suspend your retirement benefit, which you can do starting at full retirement age, you cannot collect an excess spousal benefit while your own retirement benefit is in suspension, again thanks to the new law.

If your excess spousal benefit is sufficiently large, it may be best to just wait till full retirement age and take both pieces, which will amount to your full spousal benefit -- half of your husband's full retirement benefit. If your excess spousal benefit is zero if you wait till 70 to do anything, it may be best to wait till 70 to just take your own retirement benefit. Which of these is optimal depends on the levels and relative sizes of your past earnings histories and your maximum ages of life.

You will need to run our www.maximizemysocialsecurity.com software to see exactly what's best to do.

Yours, Larry