Social Security spousal benefits - Will my wife get 50% of my benefit at 62 when I claim at 65?

Your wife can claim spousal benefits when she's 62, but she won't get the full 50%. The spousal benefit is reduced if claimed before her FRA - at 62 she'd get about 32.5% of your PIA instead of 50%. Also important: if your wife's own benefit from her work history is higher than her spousal benefit, SSA gives her the higher amount, not both combined. She should check her own SS statement at ssa.gov to compare. And remember that by claiming at 65, your benefit will be reduced too (compared to waiting until your FRA).

When I retired my wife got way less than I expected! We were shocked at how little the spousal benefit was when she took it early. Big mistake we made!!

This is a common point of confusion. Let me clarify how spousal benefits actually work: 1. Your wife must wait until YOU file for benefits before she can claim spousal benefits (unless you file a restricted application, which is only available to people born before Jan 2, 1954) 2. At her Full Retirement Age (probably 67), she would be eligible for 50% of your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) - that's your benefit amount at YOUR full retirement age, not the reduced amount you'll get by claiming early at 65 3. If she claims at 62, her spousal benefit will be permanently reduced by about 35%, so she'd get around 32.5% of your PIA 4. Since she worked 15 years, SSA will give her the HIGHER of: her own earned benefit OR her spousal benefit (not both combined) 5. If you claim at 65 instead of your FRA, your benefit will be reduced by about 13.3% (assuming your FRA is 67), but this does NOT affect her spousal percentage - that's always based on your full PIA I'd recommend both of you create accounts at my.ssa.gov and use the calculators there to see exact numbers for your situation.

Thank you all for the responses! I'm still a bit confused though. So even if I take my benefits at 65, my wife could still wait until her FRA to get the full 50% of my PIA? Would there be any advantage to her waiting?

Ugh, trying to reach Social Security to ask this same question took me WEEKS of calling. BUT I finally found a service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual SSA agent in 15 minutes! Way better than the constant busy signals and disconnections I kept getting. You might want to check out their video at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU to see how it works. Their website is claimyr.com - seriously saved me so much frustration when I needed to figure out my wife's spousal benefits.

my husbands SS is higher then mine so I took the spouse benfit but make sure she uses the calc on the SS website! I was surprised that my own benefit was almost the same as the spousal (I worked part time for 20 yrs) so waiting till my FRA made the most sense in my case. you NEVER get both benefits added together, only the higher one.

One thing nobody's mentioned yet - consider your overall claiming strategy carefully. If you have decent savings and can afford to wait, you might consider having your wife claim her OWN benefit at 62 (if she has enough credits), while YOU delay until 70. Then she could switch to the higher spousal benefit later. This maximizes your household's lifetime SS income, especially if either of you lives beyond age 80. The survivor benefit is also an important consideration - when one spouse dies, the surviving spouse gets to keep the LARGER of the two benefits, so maximizing at least one benefit can provide important protection.

WAIT! I'm confused now. Does she get 32.5% of YOUR benefit amount, or 32.5% of what YOUR benefit WOULD HAVE BEEN at your full retirement age???? This matters a lot!!! I thought it was based on what you actually GET?