I am 58, and my husband died in 2007 at the age of 54. My plan is to continue to work full time even into my 70s in my present field of IT management. At some point it would be great to retire from that full time position. If I understand the rules, I will not be able to receive benefits from my husband's account when I am 60 due to the 'earnings limit.' If at 66.8, my FRA, I am still working full time and still over that 'earnings limit', what are my options related to his account and do those options change when I am 70/70.5? Thank you!

Hi,

First off, if your full retirement age (FRA) for retirement benefits is 66 & 8 months, it would be 66 & 4 months for widow's benefits. This is true for people born in 1958 only, and is one of hundreds of 'quirks' in the Social Security regulations.

The best strategy for you is likely to either:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60, or later depending on the amount of your expected earnings, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced benefits on your own account at age 62, or later depending on your expected earnings, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at FRA.

Obviously, you are aware of Social Security's earnings test (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html), which applies only to reduced benefits payable prior to FRA. That said, if your earnings are low enough to permit any payments on the lower of the 2 types of benefits for which you are potentially eligible (i.e. retirement or widow's) prior to FRA, you should file for them. When you subsequently file for benefits on the higher account, any reduced benefits received on the lower record will have no adverse affect on your ongoing benefit amount.

You may wish to consider running the maximization software available on this website in order to help you choose the best option. The software accounts for quirks like the one I mentioned above, as well as the effects of the earnings test.

Best, Jerry