Will VA spousal benefits plus pension affect my Social Security survivor benefits at 60?

The VA benefits won't affect your Social Security survivor benefits at all! They're from different federal programs. But your work income WILL count toward the earnings limit until you reach your full retirement age. If your'e working in 2025 before your retirement and earning over the limit (which is like $22,000-ish for 2025 I think), then they'll withhold $1 from your SS benefits for every $2 you earn above the limit. Your pension won't count toward the earnings limit though.

I need to correct some information here. While VA benefits don't affect your Social Security survivor benefits, there's an important distinction regarding your pension. If your pension is from work where you paid Social Security taxes, then it won't affect your survivor benefits. However, if your pension is from work NOT covered by Social Security (some government or nonprofit jobs), then the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision might apply, which could reduce your survivor benefits by 2/3 of your pension amount. Regarding the earnings limit for 2025, if you're under Full Retirement Age (FRA) and working, the limit is projected to be about $22,320, with $1 withheld for every $2 earned above that limit. Once you fully retire and have only pension income, the earnings test won't apply to your pension. I'd recommend contacting SSA directly to verify your specific situation, as these rules can be quite complex depending on your work history.

Thanks for the detailed explanation! My pension is from a private healthcare company where I've worked for 27 years, so I've definitely paid Social Security taxes the whole time. That's a relief to know it won't trigger the GPO. I hadn't heard of that before! Since I'm planning to stop working completely before claiming survivor benefits, it sounds like I should be fine with the earnings test too. This is all so complicated!

I was in a similar situation last year. I was getting my deceased husband's VA benefits and worried about my pension affecting SS survivor benefits. I tried calling SSA for WEEKS to get a straight answer. Always busy signals or 3+ hour wait times! I finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual SSA agent in under 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent confirmed my pension wouldn't affect my survivor benefits since I paid SS taxes on those earnings. They also ran calculations showing exactly what I'd receive. Definitely worth talking to SSA directly about your specific case!

my mom just went thru this whole thing and the SSA people kept giving her different answers every time she called! one said her benefits would be reduced another said they wouldn't. total mess. she ended up just applying and seeing what happened. turned out ok but the stress almost gave her a heart attack lol

I went through something like this myself. Here's what I learned about the survivor benefits at 60: 1. The income limit for 2025 is expected to be around $22,320 if you're under FRA 2. Only EARNED income (work) counts toward that limit, not VA benefits or pensions 3. If you claim at 60, you'll get only about 71.5% of your deceased spouse's full benefit 4. If you're still working when you turn 60, consider the math carefully - you might lose most of your survivor benefits to the earnings limit 5. Once you fully retire, your pension income won't reduce your survivor benefits as long as your pension job paid into Social Security With your VA benefits plus pension, you won't exceed any income limit for eligibility purposes, since neither counts as earned income. You should be able to receive your full survivor benefit (reduced for early claiming), VA benefits, and pension all at the same time.

Yes, that's correct. The reduction for claiming survivor benefits early is permanent. If you claim at 60, you'll always receive that reduced amount (about 71.5% of the full benefit). The only way to get 100% of the survivor benefit is to wait until you reach your Full Retirement Age to claim.

Yes, there is definitely an advantage to waiting past 60 if you can afford to. The survivor benefit increases gradually from age 60 until you reach your Full Retirement Age (which is likely 67 for you). Here's the approximate breakdown: - Age 60: 71.5% of deceased spouse's benefit - Age 61: 76.25% - Age 62: 81% - Age 63: 85.75% - Age 64: 90.5% - Age 65: 95.25% - Age 66: 99.9% - FRA (67): 100% Each year you wait gives you about a 4.75% increase. This is different from retirement benefits, which increase 8% per year beyond FRA until age 70. Survivor benefits don't increase after you reach your FRA. If your own retirement benefit might be higher than the survivor benefit, another strategy would be to take the reduced survivor benefit at 60 and then switch to your own benefit at 70 when it reaches its maximum amount.

One thing I learned during my own benefits journey is that survivor benefits are uniquely flexible compared to retirement benefits. You can actually switch between them! For example, you could take reduced survivor benefits at 60, then switch to your own retirement benefit later if it would be higher (especially if you wait until 70 to maximize your own benefit). And something else important - the earnings limit changes in the year you reach FRA. During the months of that year before your birthday, the limit is much higher (around $59,520 for 2025) and they only withhold $1 for every $3 above the limit. After you reach FRA, there's no earnings limit at all! It's definitely worth making an appointment with SSA to discuss your specific options. They can run calculations based on your work record to help you make the best decision.

As someone who recently navigated this exact situation, I wanted to share my experience to help ease your concerns. I'm 62 and claimed my survivor benefits at 60 while receiving both VA spousal benefits ($1,200/month) and a pension from my nursing career ($2,100/month). The good news is that VA benefits are completely separate from Social Security - they don't count as income for any SSA calculations. Your pension also won't affect your survivor benefits since you paid Social Security taxes on those earnings throughout your career. The key thing I learned is that the "earnings test" only applies to wages from active work, not pensions or VA benefits. Once you retire completely, you won't have to worry about any income limits reducing your survivor benefits. I'd strongly recommend getting your Social Security statement online to see what your own retirement benefit would be at various claiming ages. In my case, my own benefit at 70 would have been higher than the survivor benefit, so I took the reduced survivor benefit at 60 and plan to switch to my own maximized benefit at 70. This strategy might work for you too, depending on your earnings history. The hardest part was actually getting through to SSA to discuss my options, but once I did, they were very helpful in running the numbers for different scenarios. Don't let the complexity scare you - you have more options than you might think!