I am 74 years old and have been drawing my full benefits since my full retirement age (currently $2,315 per month). My wife is age 62 and is eligible for early retirement. Her full retirement at age 66 and 8 months is $1,169 and her age 62 benefit is $841. If she starts drawing her early retirement of $841, will she still be able to draw one half of mine at her full retirement or would it be reduced and if reduced, by how much. In other words by this example how much would we both be drawing?

Hi,

No. First of all, your wife would never be eligible for spousal benefits if her primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than half as much as your PIA. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA). Therefore, if your PIA is $2315 and your wife's PIA is $1169, she won't be eligible for spousal benefits at any age.

Even if your PIA was more than twice as much as your wife's PIA, though, she couldn't file for her own benefits at age 62 and then claim spousal benefits at full retirement age (FRA). No matter when your wife files for either her own benefits or for spousal benefits, she'll be deemed to be filing for both benefits at the same time (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/claiming.html). She could only be paid basically the higher of the two benefit rates, and her rate will be reduced for age if she starts drawing prior to FRA.

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

Best, Jerry