Hi,
I will be 66 on June 5,2019. I applied for full retirement social security just 3 weeks ago and my application is in the process. My estimated SS benefit will be $ 1217/month. Should I postpend until 70 ? . Also, am in relationship with my fiancé living together for 8 years. We could get married at any time but I was told by SS supervisor to wait until I reach 66 to be able to get his 100% SS benefits in case he die. He took his SS at 62 he is 82 now and receives $ 2600/month . Should I suspend my SS until 70 and get married and apply for spousal benefit at 66 rather than my full benefit?
Also, SS doesn't have record of my earnings since 2011 I assume that the reason for this is because I didn't pay social security on my commission earnings from a real state working as a real estate broker/ independent contractor? Am I correct? I did file income tax every year but I was told at SS office it doesn't matter?

Thank you,
H.

Hi H,

Only you can ultimately decide when to start drawing your Social Security benefits, but if you wait until age 70 to start drawing your benefit rate will be 32% higher than it will be if you start drawing at your full retirement age (FRA) of 66.

Waiting until age 66 to get married wouldn't make you eligible for a higher widow's benefit amount, and may actually hurt your chances of even qualifying for widow's benefits since you normally must be married for a minimum of 9 months in order to qualify for benefits as a widow. If you do marry, you probably wouldn't be eligible for spousal benefits for the first year of your marriage (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0305.html). And, If you suspend your own Social Security retirement benefits you couldn't draw spousal benefits while your benefits are suspended, so you almost certainly wouldn't want to do that.

You only pay Social Security taxes on earned income, so that's the only income that would show up on your Social Security earnings record. Earned income is limited to wages received from an employer, and net earnings from self employment. If you had net earnings from self employment and paid self employment taxes on your earnings then those earnings should show up on your earnings record. If they don't, you'll need to show Social Security Schedule SE from your tax returns for any years in which your earnings are missing.

Your best filing strategy depends on a number of different variables, so you should strongly consider using our software to do your Social Security planning.

Best, Jerry