Hi, I turned 66 Aug. 4, 2016, My husband will be 66 Jan. 11, 2017. He is planning on working until age 70. I am not working. We had planned on the file and suspend for both of us andthat I would apply for spousal benefits, which I was about to do but I may have missed the deadline, based on new rules. Should I go and file and suspend anyway? Thank you for any information you can give me. Pam

Hi Pam,

No, do not file and suspend. Under the new voluntary suspension rules (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/suspendfaq.html), that will not only prevent you from receiving any benefits during the suspension, but would also prevent your husband from potentially receiving spousal benefits on your account.

The best strategy may be for one of you to start drawing retirement benefits early in order to allow the other to file for spousal benefits only at age 66. For example, effective with January, one of you could file for retirement benefits, and the other could file just for spousal benefits while letting their own benefit amount grow until age 70.

The alternative strategy would be for both of you to wait until age 70 to file for your retirement benefits, in which case your husband could also draw spousal benefits on your account for the 5 months before he reaches age 70 and files on his own record. If you both expect to live a long time, this might be the best strategy.

Which of these strategies is optimal depends on a number of factors, so you may want to consider running the maximization software available on this website in order to determine the best filing strategy for you.

Best, Jerry