Dear Larry,

My wife and I are both retired. She is 64 and I am 71 and have been collecting SS since age 64. She is not collecting SS. We plan on waiting until she is 70 for her to file. Can she claim spousal benefits now? Does she need to wait until her FRA of 66? Will this affect her retirement amount? My SS is approximately $2000. Hers will be more since we are waiting until 70.

Best, Steve

Dear Steve, Your best strategy is for your wife to take just her spousal benefit at FRA and not a minute sooner (otherwise she'll be forced to take her retirement benefit as well and just get a permanently smaller retirement benefit and zero spousal benefit). At 70 she would take her own retirement benefit.

You can confirm this using our software and also see what the amounts will be.

My best, Larry