I am widowed as of 2014. I am 59 years old. I need help determining if I should draw my widows benefit at 60 or wait until later in my retirement. Full retirement age for me is 67. I would like to continue working part time. I was told I could earn approx. $17,000.00 a year in income if I do draw social security benefit. Can you draw 2 benefits? One for myself and one on my deceased husband. I have had a lot of conflicting answers. Thank You

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

You can't draw 2 full Social Security payments at the same time. However, if you're drawing Social Security benefits based on your own earnings and you become entitled to a higher auxiliary or survivor benefit rate, you could be paid both your own benefit rate plus a partial auxiliary or survivor benefit. The total combined benefit rate, though, would essentially just add up to the higher auxiliary or survivor rate.

It sounds like your best strategy for claiming benefits would likely be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA). However, if your husband received reduced Social Security retirement benefits prior to his death then you would likely want to claim widow's benefits before FRA.

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher record when it reaches it's highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could sort all of this out for you and help you determine your optimal filing strategy.

Best, Jerry