The Seventy one Laws of Money

This reflects the six-month grandfathering window including in the Budget. The spouse who wants to take their full spousal benefit by itself and let their own retirement benefit grow must be born no later than Jan. The grandfathering rule here is you need to be 62 by the end of the year, but Social Security treats someone whose birthday is on the first of a month as having changed their age on the last day of the prior month. So if your spouse does file and suspend before this witching second, you better not turn 62 the way you record your own birthday even a nanosecond after midnight, Jan.

If you are divorced after having been married for 10 or more years and turn 62 no later than Jan. If you are married and you and your spouse are more than four years apart in age, but the younger of the two of you will reach 62 by the end of this year, that younger spouse is still free to file just for a full spousal benefit when he or she reaches full retirement age and still let his or her retirement benefit grow through age This is possible, because the older spouse will be taking retirement benefits by then.

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If you are married and reach 62 no later than Jan. Whether this is optimal is something only the most precise commercial software can calculate. Make sure that the software program you use has been fully updated since the legislation has passed. Suppose you are a married younger spouse and that you were born after Jan. Assume you have very low earnings relative to your spouse so that your spousal benefit will exceed your own retirement benefit even if you wait until 70 to collect it.

In this case, you and your spouse have a tricky problem. Your spouse can file for their retirement benefit before reaching 70, say, at On the other hand, by taking their retirement benefit earlier than 70, your spouse can permit you to take your spousal benefit sooner than would otherwise be the case. Recall, however, that if you take your spousal benefit before full retirement age, it will be permanently reduced. One option, which is likely the best in many cases, is for you to take your own retirement benefit when you reach full retirement age and then take your excess spousal benefit when your spouse reaches age 70 and take their retirement benefit.

But if your spouse has a relatively low maximum age of life, it may be better for you to take your retirement benefit as early as age 62 and have your spouse take their retirement benefit somewhat before age 70 at which point you take your excess spousal benefit. Taking the excess spousal benefit the difference between your full spousal benefit and your own retirement benefit early before full retirement age will permanently reduce it.

The new law has made maximizing your Social Security via the correct collection strategies even more complex for many couples. For example, you may have filed for your retirement benefit last year, say, at age 62 to activate a child benefit for your disabled child and a child-in-care spousal benefit for your spouse who is caring for your child.

But Congress and the President just took that option away. When you reach full retirement age, if you suspend, both the child and child-in-care spousal benefit will stop until you restart your retirement benefit. Consequently, the advantage of this start-stop-start strategy has been greatly reduced.

Still, it may be best to forego those auxiliary benefits for four years in order to have a permanently higher retirement benefit and when you die, provide a permanently higher widow er benefit , starting at This makes suspending your benefit in order to raise it by restarting it at 70 a riskier option. If you are widowed, nothing has changed with respect to your options to maximize your lifetime Social Security benefits.

Your best strategy will be to either a take your widows benefit at 60 or 50 if you are collecting disability and start your own retirement benefit at 70 or, if widowed, at full retirement age, but you can then suspend it until 70 or b take your retirement benefit at 62 and take your widow er benefit at full retirement age or earlier in the case your deceased spouse took their own retirement benefit early. On the other hand, if your spouse turns 62 by or on Jan. That is, they too are grandfathered.

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If you are disabled and were expecting to collect excess spousal benefits from your spouse during years that their retirement benefit is in suspension, you can kiss those benefits goodbye unless your spouse was born on or before May 1, and files and suspends. If you and your spouse were born before or on Jan. The option involves getting divorced two years before you reach full retirement age. Based on your book, my plan had been to take divorcee spousal benefits at age 66 and then my retirement at age I am 62 born in September , was married for 11 years and have been divorced for My ex-husband is not vindictive and is still working at age If you are approaching retirement after a full career, staying on the job may do surprisingly little to juice your benefit.

As you can see in the following graphic, a long-tenured worker who keeps going until 70 vs.

For one, your Social Security check is based on your pay in your 35 highest-earning years. Plus, in doing the math, the salary you earned 20 or 30 years ago is adjusted upward to reflect the climb in average wages over time. So what you earn in or might not even knock out an earlier indexed number—particularly if you scale back to part-time.

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And while that work may have little or no effect on your future Social Security check, Reichenstein points out, you could pay thousands of dollars in Social Security tax on those earnings in the meantime. Continuing to bring home a paycheck may be the only way you can afford to put off collecting Social Security—and that deferral is the powerhouse, guaranteed route to increasing your check.

Delaying is a worthy goal if you are the higher earner in a couple or a healthy single whose relatives have lived long lives. It helps protect you from outlasting your money and potentially generates higher income for a surviving spouse. While it can be smart to keep working to reap those rich boosts, conversely, if your nest egg is big enough to cover the gap, you could stop work sooner than expected but still start Social Security later.

I spent years going to the doctors, different stages, hospitals, medications and feeding tube. I cleaned and washed him, and he was in diapers for 10 years. The doctors at NYU all knew the care I was giving my partner. I contacted Social Security, but I could not collect on his record, because New York is not a common law state.

Accordingly, my husband, who will turn 66 in August , was planning to file and suspend until he turns Then when I turn 66 in February of , I would have collected spousal benefit. Now with the sudden new rules, he will optimally wait until he is 70 to file and collect.

Or will this interfere with spousal later? You may want to take your own retirement benefit at full retirement age before getting your spousal benefit. I have read your book on Social Security and have a question. She has been collecting Social Security Disability since. I am 64, like you, and will turn 66 in March I will turn 65 in the six month window described in your writing. That will screw you big time. There are intermediate strategies that may be even better.

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Only extremely accurate commercial software can pick out the best strategy. I sent you the New York Times article I mentioned in my last email. Well, I reached 62 in February of And what does that involve? Thank you in advance for any help you might give me. I realize you must receive scads of emails. Read Dec 17 AP fact check: Watch Dec 16 Marshall Islands: A third of the nation has left for the US.

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Column: 12 secrets to maximizing your Social Security benefits under the new rules | PBS NewsHour

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