Social Security delay of spousal benefits due to GPO repeal - retro payments and DRCs questions

Your benefits increase monthly after FRA, not yearly. Each month u delay gives u 2/3 of 1% more (8% per year total). For retroactive, they always use your age at the time you're deemed to have filed. So for 1/1/25, they'd use 67 yrs + 11 months for calculation.

Your husband should definitely wait until your application is fully processed and approved before submitting his spousal application. This ensures there's an established earnings record in the system for SSA to properly calculate his spousal benefit. Regarding your delayed retirement credits (DRCs), Social Security increases your benefit by 2/3 of 1% for each month you delay beyond FRA, up to age 70. This is a monthly calculation, not annual. For retroactive benefits, you're correct to consider the timing carefully. If you request retroactive benefits to 1/1/25, your benefit amount will be calculated based on your exact age at that point (67 years, 11 months), meaning you'd receive slightly less than if you filed effective February. The difference is approximately 1.33% of your PIA (Primary Insurance Amount). Rather than retroactive, you might want to consider protective filing dates for both applications, which preserves your higher DRC amount while establishing your intent to file.

congrats on the GPO repeal helping you guys! my parents are in the same boat. teacher pension + ss has been a mess for years

To add a slightly different perspective - if your income needs aren't immediate, you might consider waiting until you turn 70 to maximize your retirement benefit, which would also maximize the potential spousal benefit for your husband (up to 50% of your PIA). The GPO repeal is certainly advantageous, but optimal claiming strategies still matter. Your husband's spousal benefit will be based on your PIA (the amount you would receive at your FRA), not on your age-70 increased amount. So the delayed retirement credits you're earning increase your benefit but not his. If you're set on filing soon, I agree with the previous poster that your husband should wait until your benefit is established before applying for spousal benefits. The system needs a primary beneficiary record to calculate against.

Has anyone here dealt with the SSA phone appointment system recently? I've been trying to get a phone appointment like you have and I keep getting disconnected or told to call back later due to high call volume. It's been incredibly frustrating since I need to discuss my WEP situation with them. I ended up using Claimyr (claimyr.com) last week and finally got through to schedule my appointment. They have a system that holds your place in line and calls you when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU that shows how it works. Just mentioning it since you might need to follow up after your appointment.

whatever u do DONT try to handle both applications at once!!! SSA made SUCH a mess of our paperwork when my husband and I tried to do something similar. they kept mixing up our applications and we had to restart the WHOLE PROCESS!!! 😫

One important detail that hasn't been mentioned yet: Since your husband will be applying for spousal benefits based on your record, and you're considering retroactive benefits to 1/1/25, be aware that the retroactive filing date for spousal benefits can only be approved if the primary beneficiary (you) has already established entitlement for that period. In other words, if you apply with a retroactive date of 1/1/25, your husband could potentially receive spousal benefits retroactive to that same date once your application is processed. However, if you were to file with a current-month application instead of retroactive, your husband couldn't receive benefits for any months before your entitlement begins. This is why the sequencing matters so much. The primary beneficiary must establish entitlement first, then the spouse can claim against that record.

WAIT!! Did I miss something?? I thought GPO repeal doesn't start until 2027!! Have they changed something?? My wife gets state pension and I've been planning for GPO to affect her SS for years. If this is actually happening in 2025 we need to change all our plans!!!!

Thank you all for the helpful advice! I'm going to ask about protective filing dates versus retroactive benefits during my appointment. I think I'll proceed with my application first and then have my husband apply once mine is processed, as several of you suggested. The monthly increase for delayed retirement credits makes sense now - I always thought it might be annual which would have made a January filing date exactly the same as waiting until February. Knowing it's monthly makes the calculation clearer. I'm also going to double-check about this GPO repeal timing since someone raised questions about that. I may have misunderstood something my financial advisor told me about pending legislation.