Just purchased your software. One question - I see on my report with both my wife and I doing the mazimized strategy is is showing I get RETIREMENT BENEFITS and my wife gets BOTH RETIREMENT *and* SPOUSAL BENEFITS. I didn't think that someone can receive both?? Is this true, or did I provide some wrong information somewhere along the line?? Thank you!

Hi. I answer questions submitted to this forum, but I don't have access to our software customer's data or results. You may want to resubmit your question using an online contact form in the help menu so that you can receive a personalized answer from one of our experts with access to your data.

What I can tell you, though, is that although a person can't be paid more than one type of Social Security benefit in full, they can be paid a combination of their own benefit plus a partial spousal or survivor benefit. If a person files for their own benefits and if they also apply for spousal or survivor benefits they can be paid essentially the higher of the two rates. If the spousal or survivor rate is higher than their own rate, Social Security pays the person their own benefit amount in full plus a partial spousal or survivor rate. The result is that the person ends up being paid what is basically equal to the higher spousal or survivor rate.

Best, Jerry