Hello Larry:

My wife and I are both 57 (she is one month older). We will both be eligible for the maximum benefit at our full retirement age of 67. Is there a strategy or strategies we should look at that would allow one or both of us to collect the others spousal benefit(s) until 70 and then collect our own benefits?

Thanks,

Ray

Hi Ray,

Neither you or your wife could ever file for spousal benefits without also being deemed to have filed for your own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time. Only people born prior to January 2, 1954 have that as a possible option (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/deemedfaq.html). However, if one of you died prior to reaching age 70 then the surviving spouse could potentially draw survivor benefits while allowing their own benefit rate to grow until age 70.

It may simply be best in your case for both you and your wife to wait until age 70 to apply, but you may also want to consider strategies such as one of you filing for benefits at full retirement age (FRA) or earlier while the other waits until age 70 to start drawing. Which strategy would likely work out best in your case depends on your maximum ages of life as well as a number of other factors. You and your wife should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to explore and compare all of your various options so that you can decide which filing strategy would likely best fit your needs.

Best, Jerry