Hi, I am 61. My husband is 63. We retired very early and live off of investments. Neither of us are likely to have long life expectancies, especially my spouse who has a chronic illness. I was the higher earning. If I take SS at full retirement age I will roughly get 2200 in benefits per month, or 1660 if I take at age 62. My husband did not have much in earnings, he collects 662 per month in social security, having started at age 62. The question is what would his spousal benefit be. Am I correct that if he collects the spousal benefit at his full retire age (age 66) it would be calculated as the difference between 50% of my full retirement age benefit less the amount he would have received if he had retired at full retirement age. I don't know what that number is as once he started collecting benefits SS doesn't tell you what you would have received if you had waited. I also understand that he can't collect until I collect. What I decided to collect at age 62. He is 64 and 3 months at that time. How do I calculate his potential spousal benefit? Thanks, Martha

Martha, if he waits until his full retirement age (FRA) to collect his spousal benefit, his excess spousal benefit amount will be added to his reduced retirement benefit amount to make up his total spousal benefit. His excess spousal benefit will equal 50% of your FRA retirement benefit amount less 100% of his FRA retirement amount. This excess spousal benefit will be added to his reduced retirement benefit of $662. If he files for his spousal benefit before his FRA, his excess spousal benefit amount will be reduced. You can use our software to accurately calculate the amount of his spousal benefit as well as your available benefits along with determining the maximized strategy for your household. Thanks, John