Social Security timing advice for 62-year-old with young kids and much younger spouse

This is actually a situation where waiting to claim until at least his Full Retirement Age (66+) or even 70 makes a LOT of sense. Here's why: 1. Survivor benefits for his children AND his widow would be based on his benefit amount. If he claims at 62, that's a permanent 30% reduction that would affect any survivor benefits his family might receive. 2. His children would indeed receive survivor benefits until age 18 (or 19 if still in high school). 3. His wife would be eligible for survivor benefits as early as age 60 (or 50 if disabled). There's also the option of mother's/father's benefits if she's caring for their child under 16. 4. The family maximum benefit (FMax) would apply, but with multiple potential beneficiaries, maximizing his base benefit amount is crucial. Given the 17-year age gap and young children, delaying benefits provides important insurance protection for his family.

my dad was in kind of similar situation, he took his at 62 and regretted it when he found out how much less we got when he passed. tell your friend to WAIT

WAIT WAIT WAIT!!! The kids thing changes EVERYTHING. Most people don't realize this, but the kids get benefits while he's ALIVE too! Not just survivor benefits if he dies. If he claims retirement benefits with dependent children under 18, they can each get up to 50% of his PIA (primary insurance amount). There's a family maximum that applies, but with the young kids, he might want to claim SOONER rather than later so the kids get those dependent benefits longer. The 8 year old could get benefits for 10 years if he files now! People always talk about waiting but sometimes claiming earlier makes sense with young kids involved. His wife's earnings don't matter for the KIDS' benefits!

I actually went through a similar situation with my husband who was older with our young son. We visited our local Social Security office and asked them to calculate the total family benefits under different scenarios - him filing at 62, at FRA, and at 70. Something that surprised us was the family maximum benefit (FMax) which caps the total amount your family can receive. So even though each dependent can get up to 50% of the worker's benefit, there's a ceiling on the combined total. The FMax increases if the worker waits to file. Also, important to consider survivor benefits for the spouse may be more significant in the long run than dependent benefits for kids (which end at 18). His wife would potentially receive survivor benefits for decades. I'd recommend having your friend call SSA to discuss the specific numbers for his situation.

If your friend is having trouble getting through to SSA to discuss these options (which is super common), I found a service called Claimyr that can help. It basically helps you skip the phone wait times at SSA. Saved me hours of frustration when I needed to discuss my widow benefits options. You can check it out at claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU showing how it works. Really helpful for complicated situations like your friend's where you need to talk to an actual person instead of trying to figure it out online.

Idk about all the complicated math everyone's talking about but my uncle was in this situation and his financial advisor told him to wait til 70 cause of the kids

one thing to think about... has your friend worked at least 35 years? if not his benefit calcuation will have zeros averaged in and might be lower than he thinks

Tell your friend he should look at his life expectancy. Everyone here is assuming he'll live a long time but what if he doesn't? My dad waited to claim and then only got benefits for 4 years before he passed. If he claims at 62, that's 8 years of benefits he'd get before 70. That's a lot of money! And another thing - what about spousal benefits for his wife? His wife has to be 62 to claim those I think so that's a long way off. But once she reaches that age it's based on his PIA so if he takes early it won't affect her spousal amount I'm pretty sure.

Thank you all for the incredible advice! I spoke with my friend today and shared your insights. He was surprised to learn about how his claiming age would affect potential survivor benefits for both his kids AND his wife. He's going to try using the Claimyr service to actually speak with someone at SSA about his specific numbers. He's now leaning toward waiting until at least his FRA, possibly longer. The family maximum benefit concept was new to him too. It sounds like the best approach is to get actual calculations from SSA for different claiming scenarios to see the real impact on total family benefits. Really appreciate all your help with this unusual situation!