Hi Jerry-thank you, going back to prior question/answer.
Assume Jane’s PIA at FRA 66 is $1,000. She claims early at 62, 25% benefit reduction, she receives $750.
Her husband files at his FRA and receives PIA $2,600.
Jane at that time is 65 and would be eligible for 50% of his, but she is not, she would get:
$2,600/2 - $1,000 = $300, which would be further reduced since she claimed early.
Is that reduction based on her original claiming age of 62 or age 65 when her husband filed for benefits and when she became eligible for the spousal? This consideration is either reduction by 4 years claiming early (her FRA 66 - 62) or 1 year (her FRA 66 - 65)? I assume based on age 62. Thank you kindly.

Hi. Jane's spousal rate would be reduced based on her age at the time she first becomes eligible for spousal benefits, not her age at the time she started drawing her own benefits. So, in your example, Jane's spousal benefit would be reduced by roughly 8.33% based on starting her spousal benefits 12 months prior to her full retirement age (FRA). That would give Jane a reduced spousal amount of roughly $275, which would then be paid in addition to her reduced retirement rate of $750 to give her a combined benefit amount of roughly $1025.

By the way, assuming that Jane was born after January 1 1954, she would not have an option on when to start drawing her spousal benefits. Jane's application for her own retirement benefits would be deemed as an application for spousal benefits, so she would be forced to claim her spousal benefits effective with the first month that her husband claims his benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/claiming.html).

Jane and her husband would be wise to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to compare and analyze all of their various options in order to determine their best overall strategy for maximizing their benefits.

Best, Jerry