Social Security Strategy for Married Individuals

You can begin to collect benefits at age 62. A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that 21 million Americans are expecting to rely on Social Security as their sole source of retirement income, which is more than 27 percent of the total U.S. working population.

The earliest a person can begin taking Social Security payments is age 62, but delaying until age 70, when benefits reach the maximum payoff, will increase the monthly payment by eight percent.

Spouses with a comparable income and earnings record benefit from a 62/70 strategy.

If one spouse wants to stop working at age 62 and the other spouse does not, then the spouse who wants to retire can claim benefits on his earnings record at age 62.

The spouse who continues to work can claim spousal benefits at age 66 and put off collecting his own Social Security benefits until age 70, receiving the maximum payout.

The spouse who retired at 62 could then change to a spousal benefit based on the other spouse’s maximum benefit.

Lee Ann Torrans Next week: Social Security Stategy for unmarried beneficiaries.