Key Takeaways
- A woman who’s almost 52 posted that she plans to claim Social Security at 62 for $2,470 a month, while her 54-year-old husband waits until 70 for $4,624.
- If he dies first and she’s at her full retirement age of 67 or older, her check rises to 100% of his benefit, including his delayed credits, which is $2,154 a month more.
- Claiming early doesn’t reduce her survivor benefit. But Social Security pays only the higher of her two benefits, and a survivor benefit taken before 67 is reduced.
- So waiting until 70 does as much for her income as for his.
Nobody likes planning around a spouse’s death. But if you’re married and one of you earns quite a bit more, Social Security rewards the higher earner for waiting. And whichever spouse is left gets that reward for the rest of their life.
A woman who’s almost 52 laid out a plan like that in a recent post on Reddit’s r/personalfinance. She and her 54-year-old husband would love to retire at 60. The Open Social Security calculator gave them what she called “our ideal strategy.” She claims at 62, for $2,470 a month if she stops working at 60. He waits until 70, for $4,624 a month if he stops at 60.
She was asking about Roth conversions. But the part of the plan worth the most to her may be what Social Security pays her if her husband dies first.
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She’d get his whole check, credits and all
Under Social Security’s survivor rules, a widow who waits until full retirement age gets 100% of her late husband’s benefit. That includes the delayed retirement credits he earned. For anyone born in 1960 or later, as both of them were, full retirement age is 67. Each year he waits past 67 adds 8% to his benefit, up to age 70, so his three extra years add 24%. That makes his $4,624 at 70 about $895 a month more than the roughly $3,729 he’d get at 67. She’d keep every dollar of that extra.
Their ages line up well, too. He’s two to three years older, so when he files at 70, she’ll be right around 67 herself. If he dies after that, her check jumps from $2,470 to $4,624. That’s $2,154 more a month, or $25,848 more a year.
That’s a lot of money to have coming in during the worst year of her life.
Claiming at 62 only cuts her own check
Claiming early does cost her something. Taking benefits at 62 cuts them 30% for life, so her $2,470 is 30% less than she’d get by waiting until 67. But that cut stays with her own benefit. Her survivor benefit is based on his record, and the rule lists just two things that reduce it: taking it before her full retirement age, or him having claimed a reduced benefit himself.
The catch is that she can’t collect both. Social Security never pays anyone more than their single highest benefit, so as a widow her total would be $4,624 a month, with her own $2,470 folded into it.
It also only works one way. If she dies first, he keeps his own $4,624, since it’s the bigger check, and her $2,470 stops. So she only gets the raise if he dies first, which is about as morbid as good news gets.
His wait is really her income plan
For a couple like this, the higher earner’s claiming age is what sets the survivor’s check. If he claimed early instead, her widow’s benefit would be smaller too, since the rule cuts it when the late spouse took a reduced retirement benefit. Her claiming at 62 only lowers her own check. And if he outlives her, her check stops anyway.
The survivor benefit itself is reduced if she takes it before full retirement age. So if he dies before she turns 67, she has to wait until 67 to get the full 100%. Waiting past 67 doesn’t help, though, since survivor benefits don’t earn delayed credits. And if he died before 70 without having filed, the credits he’d built up by then would still count toward her check, just less than the full 24%.
Frankly, I think the calculator got this one right. His check is the one that keeps paying as long as either of them is alive, so it’s the one worth growing.
Of course, these are her own estimates, and they assume both of them stop working at 60. If either one works longer, or the yearly cost-of-living raises add up over the next decade or so, the dollar amounts will change. The rule behind them won’t.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
