I am married. I was born in Dec. 1953. My wife was born in Sep. 1954. I am currently working full-time, maxing my 401K and company match. I am enrolled in an HDHP medical plan at work and maxing out my HSA contribution. My company has well over 500 employees. I plan to work for another year or two. My question is should my wife start taking Social Security benefits this year on her birthday when she reaches her full retirement age (FRA) and get 50% of my FRA benefit? Fortunately, we do not need the money at this time. I have not filed for Social Security or medicare. I was planning to wait to file for my Social Security benefit until I turn 70 1/2 (allowing it to grow at 8%/year until then).
Thank you,
Bill

Hi Bill,

Your wife couldn't qualify for spousal benefits at least until you start drawing your benefits. You don't mention whether or not your wife will be eligible for benefits based on her own work record, but she could claim those benefits without regard to when you start drawing your benefits. Plus, if your wife qualifies and files for benefits on her record then you could potentially draw spousal benefits while allowing your own benefit rate to grow until age 70. Only people born prior to January 2 1954 are allowed to file just for spousal benefits without also being required to file for their own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time.

By the way, you wouldn't want to wait past age 70 to claim your benefits. The 8% annual increase in benefit rates resulting from delayed retirement credits (DRC) ends effective with the month you reach age 70, not age 70 1/2.

It sounds like you and your wife have a number of possible filing options available to you, so you should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully explore all of your options in order to determine the filing strategy that would maximize your benefits.

Best, Jerry