Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I think I understand better now - her spousal benefit would be based on my full FRA amount (at 67), not my reduced amount when I file at 66. And since she's already collecting her own benefit, she'd just get the difference if 50% of my PIA is more than her current benefit. I'm going to do some more calculations to see if it makes more sense for me to wait longer than 66, considering both our current needs and the long-term impact. Really appreciate all the insights!

You're welcome! Just one more thing to consider - make sure to check if your wife might be eligible for any delayed retirement credits on her own benefit if she hasn't reached 70 yet. Even though she's already collecting, sometimes people don't realize they could have waited longer for a higher benefit. Also, you might want to use the SSA's online benefit calculators or consider meeting with a financial advisor who specializes in Social Security optimization. The timing decision can have a huge impact on your lifetime benefits, especially when you factor in both of your life expectancies and potential survivor benefits.

everyones ignoring the obvious - 20 yr olds change jobs like they change clothes. my kids had like 5 diff jobs by age 25. she prob wont even be there next yr so why stress about it

As someone who's dealt with similar decisions, I'd say don't overthink this one. At 20 with a part-time job making $12k/year, the PARS contributions are minimal and unlikely to significantly impact her Social Security benefits decades from now. The WEP reduction is proportional to your non-covered pension amount - a small pension from 2-3 years of part-time work would result in a very small WEP reduction, if any. Plus, if she ends up with 30+ years of substantial Social Security earnings (which is likely given her age), WEP won't apply at all. I'd focus on her building good work experience and figuring out her career path rather than worrying about retirement systems at this stage. The financial impact of this decision is probably much smaller than you think.

One important thing to note is that if your wife worked any jobs that DID pay into Social Security (maybe summer jobs, part-time work before teaching, etc.) and earned at least 40 credits (roughly 10 years of work), she might be eligible for her own Social Security benefit. In that case, WEP would apply to her own benefit instead of GPO applying to spousal benefits. This gets complicated fast, but sometimes people find they're better off claiming their own reduced benefit under WEP than getting nothing under GPO. Might be worth checking her earnings record on MySocialSecurity to see if she has any SS credits.

As a newcomer here, I just want to say how helpful this discussion has been! I'm in a similar situation with my spouse who worked for the state government and never paid into Social Security. Reading through all these responses really clarifies how complex GPO and WEP are. @MidnightRider - definitely follow the advice about applying anyway. Even if the GPO reduces most of the spousal benefit, you might still get something. And checking her MySocialSecurity account for any credits from that department store job is smart - 7 years might be closer to 40 credits than you think, especially if she worked full-time. The frustrating part is how these rules seem to penalize public servants who dedicated their careers to serving our communities. Teachers, police, firefighters - they shouldn't be disadvantaged in retirement just because they had different pension systems. Hopefully that Social Security Fairness Act will eventually pass, but until then, it's good to know there are people here willing to help navigate these complicated rules.

You actually only need 40 quarters (10 years) to qualify for your own retirement benefit. With 15 years of even part-time work, you might qualify! Definitely check your my Social Security account online. If you do have your own benefit, you'll receive the higher of: 1) your own reduced retirement benefit, or 2) your reduced spousal benefit. They don't stack - you get the larger of the two.

Just wanted to add my experience here - I went through this exact same situation two years ago! My husband filed at 62 and I was worried my spousal benefits would be tiny. But like everyone else confirmed, it's based on his full retirement age amount (PIA), not what he's actually getting. The SSA representative I finally got through to was really helpful and calculated it out for me on the spot. She explained that his early filing penalty stays with him - it doesn't get passed down to affect my spousal benefit base calculation. The only reduction I get is for MY early filing. I ended up getting about $920/month at age 62, which was way better than I expected! Definitely create your my Social Security account online first - it'll show you estimates and your earnings record so you know exactly what to expect before you apply.

My neighbor had this same problem! She ended up just going in person to the local office with the W-4V form filled out. Said it was way faster than trying to call or mail it in.

As someone who just went through this process myself, I can confirm that the tax withholding option is buried pretty deep in the online application - it's easy to miss! The good news is you have several options to fix this. Since you just applied 2 weeks ago and your benefits haven't started yet, I'd definitely recommend calling SSA first to see if they can add withholding before processing your first payment. If that doesn't work out, the W-4V form is your backup plan. Just be prepared that it might take a couple months to take effect, so you'll want to set aside money from your first few payments for taxes. Given that you have other income sources, you'll definitely want some form of withholding in place to avoid a big tax bill next year!