Thank you all so much for this helpful information! I created my SSA account last night and was surprised to see that my own benefit estimate at 62 would be about $1,125/month. My ex's FRA benefit amount would be around $3,200 based on what he's told me, so 50% of that would be $1,600, reduced to around $1,080 if I claim at 62. So it seems like there's not a huge difference between my own record and ex-spouse benefits in my case. BUT, the earnings test would affect either one while I'm still working. Based on all your advice, I think I'm going to: 1. Postpone any marriage plans until I've spoken directly with SSA 2. Try that Claimyr service to actually get through to them 3. Consider working a few more years to increase my own benefit Thanks again - you've all been so helpful in explaining these confusing rules!

That sounds like an excellent plan! One last thing to consider: Since your own benefit at 62 ($1,125) is very close to what your ex-spouse benefit would be at 62 ($1,080), you might actually be better off claiming your own benefit and letting it grow. Reason: If you claim your own benefit at your Full Retirement Age instead of 62, it would be approximately 33% higher. But if you claim ex-spouse benefits at FRA instead of 62, you'd only get the flat 50% of his benefit. In your specific situation, maximizing your own benefit by waiting might be the best financial move regardless of marriage plans. Definitely discuss this with SSA when you reach them!

To clarify something important from the comments - after you reach Full Retirement Age (which you have at 68), there is NO earnings limit whatsoever. You can work and earn as much as you want without any reduction to your Social Security benefits. This is different from when someone collects early (before FRA) when there are strict earnings limits. Your neighbor may have been referring to the rules that apply before reaching FRA.

Regarding your specific situation, I'd recommend taking these three steps: 1. Request your Social Security Statement online through your my Social Security account or by calling SSA - this will show if your recent work has already increased your benefit 2. File an application for divorced spouse's benefits immediately - since your marriage was over 10 years and you're already receiving retirement benefits, there's no downside to applying 3. Keep documentation of your current earnings to verify that future benefit adjustments are correct While the automatic recalculation happens annually after tax information is processed, it's still good practice to monitor your benefit amount for changes. These recalculations typically happen in October of the year following your work.

does anyone know if this affects disability too? my husband gets SSDI and was going to switch to retirement at full retirement age, but now im worried he wont know what his retirement would be

The RIDICULOUS thing is that they HAVE all this information in their systems!! There's absolutely NO TECHNICAL REASON they couldn't show you both benefit types. It's just bad programming and outdated systems. My neighbor works for SSA and even she admits their computer systems are from the STONE AGE. Our government at work folks!!!

Depends on what your goals are. I went to one of those seminars last year and yeah, it was clearly trying to get me to sign up for financial planning services, but I actually learned a few things about how SS calculates the benefits that I didn't know before. I just said no thanks to the sales pitch at the end and went home with the useful info. Free dinner too lol

To answer your specific question about how much your benefit might increase from part-time work: it varies widely based on your earnings history, but I can give you a rough idea. Let's say you're earning about $30,000 annually from your part-time accounting work. If that income replaces a year in your top 35 where you earned significantly less (or even a year with zero earnings), you might see a monthly benefit increase of $15-40 per month. That's about a 0.5-1.5% increase based on your current benefit amount. Small? Yes. But that's an extra $180-480 per year for the rest of your life, with annual COLA increases applied to that higher amount. Over 20+ years of retirement, that can add up to thousands of extra dollars. And no, there's no form to fill out. The SSA does this recomputation automatically every year after your earnings are reported (usually after you file your tax return). Any increase will be retroactive to January of the year following the work year.

Just want to agree with the comments above saying each year over 20 reduces the WEP penalty by 5%. My husband's situation was almost identical to yours - teacher pension then work under Social Security. Make SURE you keep proof of your earnings each year, especially for years you're right around the substantial earnings threshold. The SSA made a mistake on one of my husband's years and it took months to fix.

has anyone here had luck getting wep completely eliminated? my neighbor said after 30 yrs of work under SS they removed his wep completely?