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Is It OK For My Wife To Start Drawing Her Benefits At Age 62?

I am 70 and drawing my benefits, my wife is almost 62. Is it OK for her to start drawing her at 62 or would that hurt in the future if I die.

Hi,

The answer to your question depends largely on your and your wife's comparative benefit rates. Your wife could file for benefits at age 62 and then potentially switch to drawing your full rate in the future as your survivor, but whether or not that's a good strategy depends on a number of variables. If your wife's own Social Security retirement rate is relatively small compared to yours, then it may make sense for her to at least consider starting to draw benefits early. But, if she starts drawing at age 62 she'll be stuck with a substantially reduced benefit rate for at least as long as both of you are living.

Your wife should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to explore and compare her options so that she can determine the best filing strategy to maximize her benefits.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Feb 28 2020 - 9:43am
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