Hi Larry, can I collect my own social security at 62 then switch to my late husband’s survivors benefits at my full retirement age?

Hi. Possibly. You can claim your own Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62, but if you're still working then some or all of your benefits might need to be withheld if you earn too much (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html).

If you do start drawing your own benefits early you could then apply for unreduced widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA), but you couldn't actually switch to just a widow's benefit. Assuming that your widow's rate is higher than your own benefit rate, what would happen is that you'd continue drawing your own reduced retirement benefits plus a partial widow's benefit equal to the difference between your own benefit rate and your unreduced widow's rate. The net effect, though, would be that you'd end up with a combined benefit amount equal to the full unreduced widow's rate.

However, if your husband collected reduced retirement benefits prior to his death then that would limit the amount of your widow's benefit. Your best filing strategy depends on a number of different factors, so it sounds like you should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your options so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry