Question: My wife and I are 62. She is retired and is entitled to only a few thousand dollars a year. I’m still working and my benefit is the maximum individual benefit. I plan to work until 66. Should my wife file for a spousal benefit now? Will it reduce either of our individual benefits when we reach 66? Thanks.
Answer: You should, I believe, file for your retirement benefit at full retirement age and suspend its collection. Then at 70 you should restart your retirement benefit. Your wife should wait until she has reached her full retirement age and you have filed and suspended. Then she should file for her spousal benefit. It will equal half of your full retirement benefit.
For your wife to collect a spousal benefit now, you would need to file for your retirement benefit. This would subject you to a permanent reduction. If your wife has already filed for her retirement benefit, her total benefit at full retirement age, if she waits until then to collect a spousal benefit, will be her permanently reduced retirement benefit plus her unreduced excess spousal benefit. If she has, indeed, started collecting, she can repay what she has received to date and then wait until full retirement age. At that point, she’ll receive half of your full retirement benefit as a spousal benefit.
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