Will claiming my SS benefits early reduce my spousal benefits percentage when my husband files at FRA?

Yes, if you claim your own SS retirement benefits before your FRA, your spousal benefits will be permanently reduced. When your husband files at his FRA, you'll get your own reduced benefit PLUS the difference to bring you up to what would be your reduced spousal benefit (up to 35% instead of 50% of his PIA). The total is still less than if you'd waited until your FRA. The math gets complicated, but essentially you're locking in reductions on BOTH benefits by filing early.

wait i thot u can claim ur own at 62 and then switch to ur husbands later and get the full 50%? thats what my neighbor did i think

I was in YOUR EXACT situation last year!!! The SSA reps told me THREE different things when I called. So frustrating!!! I ended up waiting until my FRA because the permanent reduction wasn't worth the extra money now. DO THE MATH CAREFULLY because once you claim early YOU CAN'T UNDO IT (except within the first 12 months but you have to pay it all back). My sister claimed early and REGRETS it every month when she sees her smaller check!!!

I struggled with this exact issue for months before making my decision. After multiple failed attempts to reach SSA by phone, I tried Claimyr (claimyr.com) and got through to an agent in 20 minutes. They confirmed that claiming your own benefit early permanently reduces your spousal benefit percentage. The agent walked me through the exact calculation based on my PIA and my husband's. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU that shows how it works. Honestly, having a real SSA agent explain my specific numbers made the decision much clearer.

My wife took hers at 62 and I waited til 70. Big mistake! Now she gets way less than expected from spousal. Should have both waited.

This is a common question that confuses many people. Here's the technical explanation: If you claim your retirement benefit before FRA, you'll be subject to deemed filing when your husband files. At that point, you'll receive your own reduced benefit plus a spousal add-on that's also reduced. The total will be less than if you had waited. For example: If your PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) is $1,000 and you claim at 62, you'll get about $700 (70%). If your husband's PIA is $3,000, a 50% spousal benefit would be $1,500 at your FRA. But if you claimed early, your spousal benefit would be reduced to about $1,050. Since you already receive $700 from your own record, you'd get an additional $350 as the spousal add-on. Total: $1,050 instead of $1,500 - a permanent reduction of $450 monthly. This is why financial planners often recommend the lower-earning spouse wait until FRA if the spousal benefit will be significantly higher than their own benefit.

I was so confused about this too last year! When I finally got thru to SS after trying for literally WEEKS, they explained that the old rules changed in 2015 with the Bipartisan Budget Act. Before that you could do this clever trick where you could take your own early then switch to full spousal later, but now they won't let you do it anymore. So frustrating! Wish they'd make these rules easier to understand for regular people!!!

Thanks everyone for your help! After reading all your responses, I think I'm going to wait until my FRA to claim. The permanent reduction just doesn't seem worth it, especially since I'm still working part-time and would be subject to the earnings test anyway. I really appreciate all the detailed explanations - this community is so helpful!