My wife is retiring at 62 this June and thinking about starting her SS and pulling her pension then. If I start drawing ss at 65 this June and am still working how much will i actually be able to keep compared to waiting till my full retirement of 66 & 4 months. Thanks

Hi,

The answer to your question depends on how much you're earning and how much your benefit rate is. If you apply to start drawing benefits in 2021, Social Security would need to withhold $1 of your benefits for each $2 that you earn in excess of $18,960 this year. However, you could be paid at least for any months in 2021 in which you earn no more than $1,580 (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/rule.html).

The earnings test exempt amount mentioned above is higher in the year that you reach full retirement age (FRA), and there's no limit on how much you can earn and still collect all of your benefits starting with the month in which you reach FRA.

You and your wife may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry