Social Security spousal benefits calculation - Will my wife get 50% of my FRA or age 70 amount?

So first off, your wife will only get 50% of your FRA amount, not your age 70 amount. That's just how SS works. Waiting til 70 only increases YOUR benefit, not what your spouse gets. But looking at your numbers... if your wife's FRA benefit is $1750 and 50% of your FRA is $1650, then she actually gets $0 in spousal benefits. She just keeps her own $1750 because its higher than the spousal amount.

Let me clarify a few things about your situation: 1) Correct, the spousal benefit is 50% of your FRA amount, not your age 70 amount. 2) Your calculation isn't quite right though. The spousal benefit would be the greater of: her own benefit OR up to 50% of your FRA benefit. Since her own benefit ($1,750) is already higher than 50% of your FRA ($1,650), she would just receive her own benefit amount. 3) Given these numbers, there's little reason for her to delay claiming beyond her FRA, as she won't receive any additional spousal benefits when you file. 4) Yes, for Social Security purposes, if you're born on the 1st of any month, your benefit is calculated as if your birthday was in the previous month. So her FRA would be one month earlier than the standard calculation. 5) When you file at 70, nothing would change for her benefit since her own benefit exceeds the spousal amount. Hope this helps!

My wife and me went thru this EXACT same thing last year!!! The SSA people gave us wrong info THREE TIMES before someone finally got it right. So frustrating!!!!! But yeah if her benefit is already higher than half yours then there's no point in her waiting. She should just take hers at FRA and you wait till 70. That's what we did.

One thing nobody mentioning - make sure u do the math right. Her benefit at FRA would be $1750 but 50% of YOUR FRA is $1650... so ya you right, she doesnt get any spousal. But check those SS statements sometimes they wrong!

To address your application questions specifically: 1. For people born on the 1st of the month, SSA treats them as if born in the previous month. So your wife's FRA would be calculated based on February 1959, not March 1959. 2. For the application process, I highly recommend applying online through SSA.gov. It's straightforward for retirement benefits. The system will walk you through everything step by step. 3. When you eventually file at 70, your wife should contact SSA to check if she's eligible for any spousal benefits (though based on your numbers, she likely won't be). This won't happen automatically - she needs to request a benefits recalculation. 4. One more thing: make sure you both create my Social Security accounts on SSA.gov to verify your earnings records and benefit estimates before making any decisions.

After trying for 3 WEEKS to get through to SSA about almost the exact same situation (different numbers but same questions), I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an agent in under 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent confirmed what others are saying here - spousal benefits are based on FRA amount not age 70 amount, and you only get the higher of your own or the spousal benefit, not both. Since your wife's benefit is already higher than 50% of your FRA, she should just claim at her FRA and you wait till 70. Trust me, save yourself hours of frustration and busy signals.

ALSO - dont forget to think about survivor benefits!!!! That's totally different from spousal. If you die first, she would get your FULL benefit including delayed credits. So by you waiting to 70, your actually increasing her survivor benefit. That's somethin to think about too.

I think ppl r missing something.... if her benefit is $1750 and half of your FRA is $1650, then she gets ZERO spousal benefit. It's not that she gets both - she just gets the higher one. Since her own is higher, she just gets her own. No extra.

One last important point: Make sure you both have continuous earnings records with Social Security. If either of you has years with zero or low earnings, working a bit longer could potentially increase your benefit amounts by replacing those lower-earning years in the calculation. SSA uses your highest 35 years of earnings (indexed for inflation) to calculate benefits. This might be particularly relevant for your wife if she had years out of the workforce.