thank you

She can earn up to $14,640 in 2012 with no “penalty” from Social Security. Social Security will deduct $1 for every $2 earned over that amount. This jumps to $38,880 the year she reaches Full Retirement Age, and there is no limit to earnings after that year.

Does this help?

I am glad I ended this article with “Social Security rules change, so I strongly recommend that you check with the Social Security Administration with all of your questions.”

If she can, once she files and begins receiving her benfit, I can then file a spousal benefit on her claim and keep my own growing until 70.

Which rule takes precedence, 1) I have to file first before she gets a spousal, or 2) she files and I don’t but she has to get the larger benefit, which in this case is the spousal benefit, even though I have not filed?

However, as indicated in my article, you may be able to file, let your wife sign up for spousal benefit, and then request a voluntary suspension on your benefit. At that point, your wife would be drawing a spousal benefit while your own benefit, on hold, continues to grow at 8% annually until you turn 70. Whether you could both file, both sign up for spousal benefits and then both request voluntary suspension of your own benefits while continuing to draw spousal benefits is doubtful.

Another quote from SS site is, “If a spouse is eligible for a retirement benefit based on his or her own earnings, and if that benefit is higher than the spousal benefit, then we pay the retirement benefit. Otherwise we pay the spousal benefit.” It appears that you don’t have a choice of spousal or your own benefit…SSA will pay whichever is greater.

This is confusing stuff. Did my response help, or make the waters even muddier?

I need to correct my scenario in the previous post. When my wife is 62 and takes a reduced spousal benefit, I will already be at FRA and would take a full spousal benefit on her record. I would then take my own benefit at 70 and she would later take her own benefit at 70 also. Although her benefit would be reduced because she took the spousal at 62, it still would be greater than remaining on the spousal benefit. Can this be done? Can she let her regular benefit grow until 70, even though she already is collecting a reduced spousal benefit?

I am hopeful that my savings, supplemented by some part-time consulting, will pay the bills until I reach 70.

Now let me throw something out-of-the-box at you. My plan is to have my wife take her reduced benefit at 62 and then me take a spousal benefit, letting my own benefit grow until 70. Is it possible for my wife to take a reduced spousal benefit on my record when she turns 62, and then me simultaneously take a spousal benefit on her record. Then, when he each reach our FRA, we take our own benefits. I can’t find anything regarding dual simultaneous spousal benefits – what do you think?

One overlooked benefit of your plan is the amount of life insurance you WON’T have to buy because of the maximum survivor benefit you and your spouse will both be in line for.