My full retirment age was 65. I was born in 1948. My husband died at 59 so he did not draw any benefits. I started drawing a widow's benefit at 64 yrs. 11 months. As I plan to work until I am 70, I was told to come back at 70 and draw on my own benefits and it would probably be higher that what I am presently drawing. As I am 69 1/2, I called S. S. to see if they could tell me if I would get a higher amount at age 70 when I move over to my S. S. I was surprised but they said if would be a couple of thousand dollars less that what I draw on a widows benefit. I make a fairly decent salary. Is the reason for drawing less due to the fact that my husband made more money. I have paid in a lot longer. Does this sound correct that I would draw less on my S. O. as I waited to age 70. Can yo tell me approximatley what I should draw. Thanks.

Hi,

Actually if you were born in 1948 your full retirement age (FRA) for Social Security benefits was age 66, not 65 (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/retirechart.html).

I have no way of knowing how much your benefit rate would be without your full earnings history, however, you could use our maximization software to calculate your retirement benefit rate. All I can tell you is that your own retirement benefit rate would be 32% higher than your FRA rate if you file effective at age 70. I don't know how that would compare to your current widow's rate, though, and you'd likely only want to file on your own record if your benefit rate would be higher than your widow's rate. You can only be paid the higher of the two rates, not both.

If I were you I wouldn't simply accept what you were told by Social Security without investigating further, either by using our software or by other means.

Best, Jerry