Will my Social Security spousal benefits be reduced if I claimed my own benefits early at 62?

The reduction is permanent because you filed early. When your husband files, they'll calculate your spousal benefit as the difference between your own reduced benefit and 50% of his PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) at his FRA. Since you filed 36 months before your FRA, your own benefits are permanently reduced by about 20%. This doesn't directly reduce the 50% spousal calculation, but it affects the overall amount you'll receive. You'll get the higher of your own reduced benefit OR up to 50% of his PIA.

You don't get both - this is a common misunderstanding. When your husband files, SSA will calculate what 50% of his benefit would be. Then they compare that to what you're already getting. You'll receive the HIGHER of those two amounts, not both added together. Since you took benefits at 62, you're getting about 75% of your full retirement amount. The "spousal boost" would only be the difference between your reduced benefit and half of his (if his is significantly higher).

i had the EXACT same situation!! took mine at 62 (needed the $$) and husband retired at 67. think i got like an extra $320/month when he filed. it all depends on your benefit vs his. if u call SSA they can tell u exactly but GOOD LUCK getting thru to a real person lol. took me 5 days of calling!!

My wife THINKS she was gonna get a huge raise when I filed but she only got $76 more a month!!! She took her SS at 63 and I waited till 70. They dont make this stuff clear do they?

Actually, there's a specific calculation used. When your husband files, SSA will determine your spousal benefit by taking the higher of: 1) your own benefit OR 2) the difference between your PIA (not your reduced benefit) and 50% of your husband's PIA, plus your own reduced benefit. It's not quite as simple as some are saying, especially with the reductions. The exact formula is: Spousal Benefit = max[Your reduced benefit, (50% × Husband's PIA - Your PIA) + Your reduced benefit]. So the reduction only applies to your own benefit, not to the spousal portion.

Let me clarify, as there is some confusion here. Your early filing reduction DOES affect what you'll receive, but not in the way you might think. If your own PIA (what you would have gotten at FRA) is $1,000, but you took benefits at 62 and get $750, and your husband's PIA is $2,400, then your maximum spousal benefit would be $1,200 (50% of his). You would receive your $750 plus the difference between $1,200 and $1,000 (your PIA), which is $200 - for a total of $950. You don't get the full $1,200 because you filed early for your own benefits.

all this 50% talk is bull anyway. they NEVER tell you about how they reduce it with the WEP/GPO if either of you had a govt pension. my wife got ZERO spousal after they applied that stupid rule!!!!!

best thing is wait til hes about to file then go to SSA together. bring ALL ur paperwork & get them to figure it out. thats what we did. the online calculators are useless for this complicated stuff

I went through this last year. Called SSA after my husband filed, and they explained that because I filed at 63, my spousal benefit was reduced by about 13.3% from what it would have been if I'd waited until my FRA. The exact percentage depends on how many months early you filed. At 62, you're looking at around a 30% permanent reduction to whatever spousal benefits you qualify for. Definitely worth checking your MySocialSecurity account online - it should show your PIA there.