I'm 53. Wife 48. Both work for State agencies. I have 17 years in pension fund, wife has 1 year. I'll be 61 in 8 years, that also my 25th yr & can "officially" retire from job w/pension & healthcare benefits. When should I take my SS benefits? Thank you. John

Dear John, The Windfall Elimination and Pension Benefit Offset provisions, which lower the benefits available to those receiving pensions from non-covered jobs don't come into play until you start collecting your non-covered pension. So if you can wait until, say, 65 to take your state pensions with no loss from waiting to collect the state pensions because they are increased if one waits longer, you can receive retirement benefits and, potentially excess spousal benefits, without these provision lowering their amounts for, in this case, three years. If your non-covered pension benefit can't be delayed without just losing it (i.e., without being compensated fully for the delay), it may be best for you both to wait till 70 to collect.

As I've written in other answers, our software can tell you what's best. It fully incorporates the WEP and GPO provisions. What's best will depend on the size of both of your past covered earnings, the number of years of substantial earnings you both have with Social Security, the sizes of your non-covered pensions, the relative sizes of your covered earnings, the absolute sizes of your covered earnings, your maximum ages of life and several other factors.

So I can't just say do X, that X is best. I'm not as smart as the software we built. Please run it. It will probably mean a bundle more money.

best, Larry