Social Security spousal benefits reduced if lower-earning spouse claimed at 62?

This is a common point of confusion. When your wife claims her own benefit early at 62, she'll receive a permanently reduced amount (about 70% of her full retirement age benefit). Later, when you claim at 67, she becomes eligible for spousal benefits, BUT her spousal benefit will ALSO be reduced because she claimed early. The way SSA calculates it: She'll receive her own reduced benefit plus an additional amount that brings her total up to the reduced spousal rate (not the full 50%). This reduction happens because she filed before her FRA. So yes, claiming early has a permanent effect on both her own benefit AND her eventual spousal benefit. The only way to get the full 50% spousal benefit is to wait until her own FRA to claim anything.

my sister did this exact thing and regrets it so much!!! she took her ss at 62 and her total benefit after her husband filed is way less than half of his. the ssa rep told her she could never get the full amount because she filed early. wish she'd waited those extra few years!!

To give you a more precise explanation: When your wife files at 62, her own benefit will be reduced by approximately 30%. When you file at 67, her spousal benefit will be calculated at her FRA spousal rate (50% of your PIA) MINUS her FRA primary insurance amount. That difference is then reduced because she filed early. This results in her getting her own reduced benefit plus a reduced differential amount, which totals less than 50% of your benefit. Example with simplified numbers: - Your PIA/FRA benefit: $3,100 - Her PIA (at her FRA): $1,800 - Her reduced age 62 benefit: $1,260 (70% of $1,800) - Full spousal benefit would be: $1,550 (50% of your $3,100) - Differential at FRA would be: $1,550 - $1,800 = $0 (since her own benefit exceeds half of yours) In this case, she wouldn't receive any spousal benefit. But if her PIA were lower, she would receive a reduced differential amount. The exact calculation is complex, but claiming early permanently affects ALL her benefits.

No, that's not quite right. The calculation isn't as straightforward as taking the difference between her reduced benefit and half of yours. The way SSA actually calculates it: 1. They take her PIA (unreduced benefit at FRA): $1,800 2. They calculate the spousal add-on at FRA: $1,550 (50% of your PIA) - $1,800 (her PIA) = $0 (in this case) 3. Since that difference is $0, there is no spousal add-on. Basically, if her PIA is more than half of your PIA, she won't receive any spousal benefit, regardless of when she files. The calculation compares PIAs (full retirement age amounts) before any reductions. If her PIA were $1,500 instead, then she would get a small spousal boost, but that boost would also be reduced because she filed early.

I've been dealing with this exact situation! It's incredibly frustrating how complex they make these rules. I spent HOURS trying to reach someone at Social Security to explain this to me. After being disconnected four times and waiting on hold for nearly 2 hours, I finally got through to someone who could explain it. If you're having trouble reaching SSA, try using Claimyr (claimyr.com). It saved me hours of frustration - they connect you directly to an SSA agent without the wait. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU As for your actual question - the rule is exactly as others described. If your wife claims at 62, BOTH her own benefit AND any future spousal benefit will be permanently reduced. The spousal boost (if she's eligible for one) is reduced based on how early she filed for her own benefits.

i think everyone is making this more complicated than it needs to be! bottom line: if your wife takes ANY benefits before FRA she gets penalized FOREVER. thats the rule. no way around it. tell her to wait if she can afford to. the longer she waits the more she gets simple as that.

The SSA rules are deliberately complicated to confuse people and save the government money!!! They WANT people to file early because it costs them less in the long run. I made this mistake and I'm getting $570 less EVERY MONTH for the rest of my life because I didn't understand the rules. That's almost $7000 a year they're keeping from me!!! If your wife can wait until her FRA, TELL HER TO WAIT. The system is designed to punish early filers in ways they don't explain clearly until it's too late.

To clarify what seems to be confusing some commenters - there are two separate calculations the SSA performs: 1. First, they determine if your spouse is eligible for a spousal benefit by comparing her PIA (full retirement age amount) to 50% of your PIA. If her PIA is already more than half of yours, she gets no spousal benefit regardless of when she files. 2. If she IS eligible for spousal benefits (her PIA is less than half of yours), then the early filing reduction applies to the spousal portion. So in your case, if her PIA is $1,800 and yours is $3,100, then half of yours is $1,550. Since her PIA ($1,800) exceeds half of yours ($1,550), she won't receive any spousal benefits regardless of when she files. However, if her PIA were only $1,400, then she would be eligible for some spousal benefits, but those would be reduced if she claimed any benefits before her FRA.

I'm going through similar planning with my wife. What complicates this more is that the reduction for claiming early isn't linear - it's more severe for the first 36 months before FRA and then less severe for months beyond that. Also remember that while the financial calculation is important, there are other factors to consider. If your wife isn't working and needs income now, taking reduced benefits might make sense despite the permanent reduction. Or if either of you has health concerns that might affect longevity, that could change the calculation. Sometimes people focus so much on maximizing the monthly amount that they forget to consider their unique circumstances and when they actually need the money.

has anyone mentioned that the spousal benefit can never exceed 50% of the higher earner's benefit at their FRA? like even if the higher earner delays to 70 the spousal benefit is still based on their FRA amount not the increased amount. just another confusing detail i learned recently

my situation was kinda like yours but reversed because i was the higher earner and my husband was deciding when to claim. we actually found it worked best for him to claim at 62 and me to wait till 70. we ran the numbers a million ways and that gave us the most money over our expected lifetimes. so dont just assume waiting is always better you have to look at your specific situation

well my benefit was much higher (similar to your situation) and we needed some income but not all of it right away. so by having him claim early we got some money coming in while letting my larger benefit grow till 70. since my benefit would be the survivor benefit if i die first it made sense to maximize that one. his early filing reduction didn't matter as much in the big picture since his benefit wasnt that big anyway and he didn't qualify for much spousal benefit because of the PIA comparison thing others explained.

I've been researching this exact scenario for months and wanted to share what I learned from multiple sources including AARP and the SSA website. The key thing to understand is that Social Security uses a "deemed filing" rule for anyone born after 1953 (which includes your wife). Under this rule, when your wife files for her own benefit at 62, she's automatically deemed to be filing for ALL benefits she's eligible for at that time. Since spousal benefits aren't available until you file, she won't be deemed to file for those yet. BUT - and this is crucial - when you do file at 67 and she becomes eligible for spousal benefits, her spousal benefit will be calculated as if she filed for it at the same time she filed for her own benefit (age 62). So yes, the early filing penalty applies to both her own benefit AND her future spousal benefit. The exact reduction depends on how many months before her FRA she files. At 62, it's typically around 30% reduction on her own benefit, and the spousal portion would be reduced by about 32.5%. I'd strongly recommend using the SSA's online calculators or speaking with them directly before making this decision. The break-even analysis really depends on your specific benefit amounts and life expectancy assumptions.

I'm dealing with a very similar situation and wanted to add one more perspective that might help. My financial advisor ran the numbers for us using what's called a "breakeven analysis" - basically calculating at what age the cumulative benefits would be equal between claiming early vs. waiting. In our case (my wife age 62, me age 64), if she claimed early the breakeven point was around age 78-79. Since both our mothers lived into their 90s and we're both healthy, waiting made more sense for us. But if you have reasons to believe either of you might not reach that breakeven age, claiming early could actually be the better financial decision despite the permanent reductions. Also, don't forget about Medicare timing. Your wife will be eligible for Medicare at 65 regardless of when she claims Social Security, but if she's not working and doesn't have other health insurance, that's another factor in the timing decision. One tool that really helped us was the Social Security Administration's online "When to Start Receiving Retirement Benefits" publication (SSA.gov pub 05-10147). It has worksheets that help you think through all these factors systematically rather than just focusing on the monthly benefit amounts.

Just wanted to add another consideration that hasn't been mentioned yet - taxes! Social Security benefits can be taxable depending on your total income, and this might affect your claiming strategy too. If your wife claims her benefits at 62, that's taxable income that gets added to any other retirement income you might have (401k withdrawals, pensions, etc.). Depending on your "combined income" (which includes half of your SS benefits plus other income), you could end up paying taxes on 50% or even 85% of the Social Security benefits. Sometimes it makes sense to delay Social Security and instead withdraw from tax-deferred accounts first, especially if you're in a lower tax bracket now than you expect to be later. This is another reason why talking to both SSA and a tax professional can be really valuable before making this decision. The tax implications can sometimes tip the scales one way or another when the breakeven analysis is close. Just thought it was worth mentioning since I didn't see anyone else bring up the tax angle!

For comprehensive Social Security and tax planning calculators, I'd recommend checking out the tools at MaximizeMySocialSecurity.com or SocialSecurityChoices.com - both factor in tax implications along with benefit timing. The SSA's own retirement estimator is decent for basic calculations but doesn't handle the tax complexity. One thing to keep in mind with the tax planning: if you're currently in the 12% or 22% tax bracket and expect to be in the same or higher bracket later, it often makes sense to do Roth conversions now while delaying Social Security. You can convert some of your traditional 401(k) money to Roth, pay taxes at today's rates, and then have tax-free Roth withdrawals later. Also consider that if your wife waits until her FRA, she could potentially work part-time without the Social Security earnings test penalty, which might provide income while optimizing her benefits. The earnings test goes away completely at FRA. Given all the variables (spousal benefits, taxes, Medicare, longevity, cash flow needs), this might be worth a consultation with a fee-only financial planner who specializes in Social Security strategies. The decision will affect your finances for decades, so getting professional input on your specific situation could pay for itself many times over.