ORIGINAL QUESTION

Hi,
My wife and I are both 66. My PIA is $2,809 at age 66 and $3,732 at age 70. My wife's PIA is $1,108 at age 66 and $1,463 at age 70. I am planning to delay receiving my SS benefit until age 70. We've been told that our best strategy to maximizing our benefits is for my wife to start taking her SS benefit at age 66 and switch to spousal benefits at age 70 when I start taking mine. Do you agree with that strategy?

Thank you,

JR

FOLLOW-UP

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I realize that I made a typographical mistake in that my wife and I are actually both 63 years of age, but other than that the facts as I had stated are all correct. With that sin mind, I expect that the strategy as stated is still sound and that your answer is still the same?

Many thanks!

JR

Hi JR,

Yes, that still sounds like a solid strategy. However, when I answered your original question I should have added that if you were born prior to January 2 1954, you would also want to file just for spousal benefits on your wife's record a) when she files for her benefits or b) at your full retirement age of 66, whichever is later. I misread your question and thought that was already part of your original plan. Unfortunately, though, if you were born after January 1 1954 you wouldn't be able to file just for spousal benefits only without also being deemed to have filed for benefits on your own record (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/claiming.html?intcmp=AE-RET-PLRT-REL...).

And again, I would recommend using our maximization software to make sure that you choose the optimal filing strategy for you and your wife.

Best, Jerry