Hi Larry. My husband reaches full retirement age in 2 months. He plans to take his retirement, but continue working for 1-2 more years. We have a DAC, and I plan to file for spousal benefit for caring for my son. So when he finally completely retires, is the family maximum amount based on his full retirement age benefit or will it increase if he works an additional 2 years. Also will the survivor benefit be based on full retirement benefit, or will it be based on the amount he would get when he finally does retire? Thank you so much, janelle

Hi Janelle. The first step is determining your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA), but the PIA can be increased indefinitely if the worker has additional earnings that are high enough to increase their PIA. Retirement benefit PIAs are calculated based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, so additional years of earnings only increase a person's PIA if they're higher than one or more of the 35 years currently being used to calculate the person's benefit rate.

Therefore, if your husband starts drawing his benefits at FRA but continues working, he could potentially increase his PIA. A PIA increase would also result in an increase in the family maximum benefit (FMB), as well as an increase in the auxiliary benefit rates for you and your son. Unreduced auxiliary benefits are calculated based on 50% of the worker's PIA on whose account the auxiliary benefits are paid, but the actual amount payable can be lower due to the FMB.

It sounds like you and your husband should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your options so that you can determine the best filing strategy to maximize benefits for your family.

Best, Jerry