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Will My Husband Still Be Eligible For Social Security If He Never Goes Back To Work?

My husband stopped working to take care of his elderly parents at age 58 he is still taking care of them if he never goes back to work will he be eligible for SSN when he turns either 62 or 65?

Hi,

Yes, as long as your husband has at least 40 quarters of Social Security coverage (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/credits.html) he could qualify for Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, Social Security retirement benefits are calculated based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of wage-indexed earnings (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10070.pdf), so if your husband paid into Social Security for fewer than 35 years then zero earnings years will be averaged in when calculating his benefit rate. That in turn would likely cause him to receive a lower benefit rate than he would have received if he had not stopped working at age 58.

You and your husband may want to consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to calculate your benefit rates and to determine your best strategy for claiming your benefits.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Nov 6 2019 - 10:46am
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