Social Security confusion: Taking benefits at 62 vs waiting - impact on future spousal benefits?

Your second advisor is correct. If you take your retirement benefit early at 62, and later switch to spousal benefits when your husband files, your spousal benefit will be permanently reduced. This is because when you file for any benefit before your FRA, SSA applies a reduction factor that carries over to ANY benefit you receive for life. The spousal benefit at FRA is 50% of your husband's PIA (Primary Insurance Amount). If you take it early at 62, it would be around 32.5% instead of 50%. The SSA publication you want is 'When to Start Receiving Retirement Benefits' (No. 05-10147). Also check their retirement planner section on the website under 'Benefits For Your Spouse'.

My brother took social security at 62 and regrets it now. his check is way smaller than if he waited. just my 2 cents

I'm dealing with the EXACT same issue right now! Turning 62 next month and trying to figure out what to do. From what I've learned, if you claim early, ALL benefits - including spousal - get permanently reduced. It's so frustrating the advisors don't agree!

The rules on this are quite specific. When you file for benefits early, you trigger what's called "deemed filing" which means you're filing for ALL benefits you're eligible for. The reduction is applied to your benefit amount and carries forward even if you later become eligible for a different benefit type. Here's the exact calculation: If you file at 62 (60 months early), your own retirement benefit is reduced by about 30%. If you later qualify for a spousal benefit, it would also be reduced by a similar amount - approximately 30% off the 50% amount. So instead of getting 50% of your husband's PIA at FRA, you'd get roughly 35%. Before making any decisions, create a my Social Security account and look at your personalized statement. Run calculations with both scenarios to see the actual difference in dollars.

I took mine early and my check is tiny! 😭 Should've waited til 67 but needed the money then. Def wait if u can afford it.

Have you tried actually contacting Social Security directly? I spent MONTHS getting frustrated with conflicting advice before I finally got someone on the phone at SSA who explained everything clearly. Getting through to them is the hard part - I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected with an agent in about 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. They have a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent I spoke with confirmed that taking benefits early permanently reduces ALL future benefits, including spousal. She walked through my specific numbers and it made the decision obvious for my situation. Worth talking to SSA directly since your numbers might make one option clearly better.

Both of your advisors are partially right but missing nuance. The FIRST advisor is correct that you CAN take your own benefit at 62 and later take spousal benefits when your husband files. But the SECOND advisor is right that your spousal benefit would be permanently reduced because you filed early. You should know there's a third option not mentioned: If your husband's benefit is substantially higher than yours, you could wait until your FRA, have your husband file at his FRA or later, and then you could take the full 50% spousal benefit without ever taking your own benefit. This sometimes works better depending on your specific earnings records. Exact calculations matter here. What's your PIA compared to your husband's? That makes a huge difference in the optimal strategy.

THE SSA WEBSITE IS USELESS!!! I spent HOURS trying to figure this out and the information is so scattered and confusing! I ended up taking benefits at 62 because I needed the money and now I'M STUCK WITH A TINY CHECK FOREVER. The whole system is designed to confuse us on purpose!!!

Just to add one important point: If your own retirement benefit at FRA would be higher than the spousal benefit (50% of your husband's), then the timing of when you take your own benefit is the most critical factor. Based on average benefit amounts, if your career earnings were similar to your husband's, your own benefit is likely higher than what you'd get as a spouse. If you can afford to wait until at least your FRA (67), that's often the optimal choice unless you have health concerns. Claiming at 62 means a permanent 30% reduction that affects you for the rest of your life. The breakeven point is typically around age 78-80 - if you expect to live beyond that, waiting usually provides more lifetime benefits. The SSA publication that explains all this in detail is 'When to Start Receiving Retirement Benefits' (05-10147) and specifically for the spousal benefit questions, see 'Benefits For Your Spouse' (05-10035).

As someone who works with Social Security claims regularly, I want to emphasize that this is exactly the kind of decision where getting official SSA guidance is crucial. The rules around early filing and spousal benefits are complex, and the reduction factors can vary based on your specific birth year and exact filing dates. One key point that hasn't been fully addressed: if you're considering the spousal benefit route, remember that your husband must actually file for his benefits before you can claim spousal benefits. So the timing becomes a coordination between both of your filing decisions, not just yours alone. I'd strongly recommend using the SSA's online retirement estimator tool at ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/estimator.html - it will show you personalized projections based on your actual earnings record. You can model different claiming scenarios to see the dollar impact over time. Also, don't forget that if you're still working, the earnings test might reduce your benefits if you claim before your FRA and earn above certain thresholds ($22,320 for 2024). This is another factor that could influence your optimal timing. Given the complexity and the long-term financial impact, consider getting a second opinion from a fee-only financial planner who specializes in Social Security optimization, not just general financial advice.

I went through this exact same decision process two years ago and wanted to share what helped me most. After getting conflicting advice from multiple sources, I finally scheduled an appointment at my local SSA office (yes, there was a wait, but it was worth it). The key insight I got was this: they showed me my actual benefit statement with the exact dollar amounts for different claiming ages. Seeing "$1,234 at age 62" versus "$1,763 at age 67" made it crystal clear what I'd be giving up permanently by claiming early. For the spousal benefit question specifically, they explained that if you claim YOUR benefit early, any future spousal benefit gets the SAME reduction percentage applied. So if claiming at 62 reduces your benefit by 30%, your spousal benefit would also be reduced by about 30-35% from the full amount. One thing that really helped: I asked them to print out a worksheet showing my breakeven age for different scenarios. It turned out that if I lived past 79, waiting until FRA would give me more total lifetime benefits. Since I'm healthy and have good genes, waiting made sense for me. My advice: book an SSA appointment, bring a list of specific questions, and ask them to show you the actual dollar calculations for your situation. The generic advice online can only go so far - your specific earnings history makes all the difference in what strategy works best for you.