I intend to retire next year at 62, as I have two young children (who will be age 8 and 11 when I hit 62) and my wife (age 47) as caretaker. Obviously with 4 people drawing checks, the family maximum will be hit. My question is how will each person’s benefits be affected if 1) I continue to receive earned income, 2) my wife receives earned income, and 3) if either of the children receive earned income. Both I and my wife have earned income from a family business (about $40K combined), but we can shift hours from one to the other (so one of us remains under the 18K threshold) to maximize benefits. My FRA PIA will be about $2,200/mo.

Hi. Social Security's earnings test will apply to everyone in your family while they're under full retirement age (FRA). If you earn in excess of the earnings test exempt amount, Social Security will withhold both your benefits and your family members' benefits for as long as it takes to recover the amount required. If your eligible family members earn more than the exempt amount, only their own benefits would be withheld and those benefits could potentially be redistributed to other family members who don't have excess earnings if their benefits are being reduced due to the family maximum.

It sounds like you should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze your options so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing benefits for your family.

Best, Jerry