Hello and happy new year. We have purchased an annual subscription to Maximize my Social Security but wanted to clarify our understanding before my wife files for her own SS benefit. My wife will be 62 in March (born 1960), she has own earnings from employment and qualifies for $525/month (PIA=$746).. If she claims her own SS benefit at 62 will it affect her spousal benefit when I claim my own SS in 2030 (when I turn 70, born 1960) and she claims spousal benefit at same time? We understand her benefit from her own earnings will be permanently less but Maxim My SS results show my benefit and her spousal benefit aren't affected by her early retirement under her own benefits. Is this correct?

Hi. I answer questions submitted to the site, but I don't have access to our software customers data or results. Subscribers to the software should submit questions using an online contact form in the help menu so that their questions can be answered by one of our experts with access to their benefit information.

To answer your question, though, even if your wife starts drawing her own benefits at age 62 her excess spousal benefit amount will not be reduced for age if you don't file for your benefits prior to when she reaches full retirement age (FRA). As you mention, though, the reduction for age applied to her own benefit rate would continue even after she becomes eligible for her excess spousal benefit.

For example, say Mary files for her Social Security retirement benefits at age 62. Mary's PIA is $800, but Mary's benefit rate is reduced for age to $563. Several years later Mary's husband applies for his benefits, and his PIA is $2000. Mary's unreduced excess spousal benefit would then be calculated by subtracting her PIA from 50% of her husband's PIA, which in Mary's case amounts to $200 (i.e. $2000/2 - $800). If Mary is at least full retirement age (FRA) when she becomes eligible for the spousal benefit, she would then be paid the unreduced excess spousal amount of $200 in addition to her own reduced rate of $563 to give her a combined rate of $763. But, if Mary becomes eligible for spousal benefits prior to FRA, her spousal rate would also be reduced for age.

Best, Jerry