I am a 60 year old widow. I work full-time earning +/- 100k per year. I am working with my financial planner right now in preparation to retire within the next 2 months.
Question, if I take SS widow benefits now (at age 60) how will I gain access to his full and/or my full benefits and at what age. Also, will the SS widow benefits be deducted from my full retirement benefits?

Thank you,

Hi. I'm not sure if I fully understand your question. You won't get your husband's full rate if you apply for widow's benefits at age 60. If you claim widow's benefits effective with the month you reach age 60, your benefit rate would be calculated at 71.5% of your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). The percentage you'd receive would vary depending on your exact age at the time you claim the benefits.

It sounds like your best strategy for claiming benefits would likely be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits 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 collected reduced Social Security retirement benefits prior to his death, then you'd want to claim widow's benefits at some point prior to your FRA.

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches its highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry