Social Security timing dilemma - marry now or later for optimal spousal benefits?

The right answer depends on how your benefit amount compares to your partner's. At your age, you'd take a 20-25% reduction on your own benefit by claiming early. If your future spouse's benefit is substantially higher than yours, it might make sense to wait until you're married, then file for both. But remember, spousal benefits max out at 50% of your spouse's PIA (Primary Insurance Amount), and that gets reduced if you claim before your FRA (Full Retirement Age).

This is a great question about benefit coordination! Here's what you need to know: 1. You can absolutely start your own retirement benefits now and add spousal benefits later after you're married for a year. 2. However, once you file for your own benefits early, you're locked into that reduced amount permanently (minus any COLA increases). 3. When adding spousal benefits later, you'll only get the higher of: your reduced benefit OR the reduced spousal benefit (not both combined). Based on the numbers you shared with the other commenter, your own benefit at FRA would be higher than your spousal benefit would be. So you'd want to optimize YOUR timing rather than worry about the spousal amount. If you can afford to wait, each year you delay from now until 70 adds about 8% to your benefit amount permanently.

im in almost the same boat!! partner is 69 im 62 and we wanna know when to get married for max $$$. the SS lady told us over phone i should file on my own record ASAP and then we can get married wheneer we want. but then another person said wait!!! so confusin

Whatever you do, DON'T trust what the SSA tells you over the phone!!! They gave me completely WRONG information about my spousal benefits last year and I lost out on $3,750 because of their mistake. They told me I could file a restricted application but that option ended in 2020 for most people! The rules are super complicated and most agents don't understand all the nuances. Get everything in writing!

I was in a similar situation last year. After hours of trying to get through to SSA on the phone and getting disconnected repeatedly, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real Social Security agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent I spoke with explained that in my case (which sounds similar to yours), I was better off filing for my own benefits since my spousal benefit would be less. They also confirmed I could add the spousal component later after marriage without reapplying completely. Saved me a ton of confusion.

dont overthink it jusst get marryed now if you love each other! my sister waited 2 extra years to marry her bf for some social security thing and then he got sick and they wished theyd just gotten married sooner. money isnt everything

Based on the numbers you shared ($1,800 for you at FRA, $2,750 PIA for your partner), here's your answer: - Your spousal benefit would max out at $1,375 (50% of $2,750) - That's LESS than your own $1,800 benefit - Therefore, you'll never receive spousal benefits as they won't increase your total This means you can make your marriage and filing decisions independently. The optimal financial strategy would be to delay your own benefits until 70 if possible (increasing to about $2,232/month at age 70), but that's a personal decision based on health, need for income now, etc.

Anybody else notice how these rules seem deliberately designed to be confusing? Like they WANT us to make mistakes and claim at the wrong time. Same with the earnings test and taxation of benefits. The whole system needs an overhaul!

To summarize what everyone's shared (and clarify some confusion): 1. Since your own benefit at FRA ($1,800) exceeds half of your partner's PIA ($1,375), you won't receive additional money from spousal benefits. 2. This means your claiming strategy should focus solely on optimizing YOUR retirement benefit timing. 3. Each year you delay claiming between now and 70 adds approximately 8% to your lifetime benefit amount. 4. The one-year marriage requirement doesn't impact your optimal strategy in this case. The decision ultimately comes down to: do you need the money now (claim early) or can you afford to wait for a larger monthly amount later (delay claiming)?

Great discussion everyone! As someone who just went through this process myself, I wanted to add one more consideration that might be helpful. Since you're 63 and considering delaying benefits, make sure you factor in healthcare costs if you're not yet Medicare eligible. I delayed my benefits from 62 to 65, but the extra money I gained was almost entirely eaten up by COBRA premiums and higher healthcare costs during those years. Sometimes the "mathematically optimal" choice isn't the practically optimal choice when you consider all expenses. Also, if you do decide to claim early, remember that the earnings test might apply if you're still working - you could temporarily lose some benefits if you earn over the annual limit ($22,320 for 2024). Just something else to factor into your decision-making process!