Will my reduced Social Security at 62 affect spousal benefits when husband claims at FRA?

Yes, your spousal benefit will be permanently reduced because you claimed your own retirement benefit early. When you apply for spousal benefits later, you'll receive an amount equal to the greater of: your own reduced benefit OR the difference between your reduced benefit and up to 50% of your husband's PIA (Primary Insurance Amount). Since you claimed at 62, your spousal benefit will be reduced - you won't get the full 50% of his benefit. Basically, your early filing affects ALL benefits you'll ever receive, including spousal. This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Social Security.

ur fine dont worry to much....when ur husband files you'll get a bump in benefits. my sister did the same thing and now gets like almost half of what her husband gets even tho she started early. ssa just adds the extra on top of what ur gettin now

Unfortunately, there's a permanent reduction for claiming any SS benefit early. Since you started at 62, your spousal benefit will be reduced by approximately 30% from what you would have received at your Full Retirement Age (FRA). When your husband files, you'll receive your own reduced benefit plus a reduced spousal add-on (if eligible). The total combined amount will be less than 50% of your husband's Primary Insurance Amount. This reduction is permanent - there's no reset when your husband files. This is why coordinating claiming strategies between spouses is so important with Social Security benefits.

I made the EXACT same mistake!!! Took mine at 62 cuz I needed money after getting laid off. Husband waited till 67. When he started collecting I only got a tiny bump in my check, not the half I was expecting. Called SSA like 4 times and kept getting disconnected or waiting forever. So frustrating!!!!

Here's what happens with your spousal benefits when claiming early: 1. The maximum spousal benefit is 50% of your husband's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) at his Full Retirement Age 2. However, since you claimed at 62, your spousal benefit will be reduced to about 35% of his PIA 3. If your own reduced benefit exceeds this amount, you won't receive any additional spousal benefits 4. If your reduced spousal benefit amount is higher, you'll receive your own benefit plus the difference as a spousal add-on This reduction is permanent. The only way to undo an early filing decision is to withdraw your application within 12 months of filing and repay ALL benefits received. After that window, the reduction is locked in for life.

wait i think i got this wrong earlier...sorry bout that. my sister said she did get less cuz she started early. its all so confusing!!!

Since you're only one month into receiving benefits, you might want to consider the withdrawal option mentioned above. You can file Form SSA-521 to withdraw your application, repay the one month of benefits, and it will be as if you never filed. However, you should carefully consider if you can financially manage without those benefits until you reach your FRA or later. That's the tradeoff - less money now for more money later. Another consideration: if your husband's benefit will be substantially higher than yours, maximizing his benefit through delayed claiming might be more important than adjusting your own claiming strategy.

My wife actually talked to someone at our local SSA office about this exact thing! They said something about "deemed filing" rules and how they changed the rules in 2015. Basically if you were born after January 2, 1954, you can't file for just spousal benefits while letting your own grow. The whole system is ridiculously complicated.

If you're only one month into receiving benefits, withdrawing your application might be worth considering. Since you mentioned your benefit is $1,450/month at age 62, waiting until your FRA (probably 67) would give you approximately $2,070/month instead. That's a difference of $620/month for life, plus larger cost-of-living adjustments since they're percentage-based. However, you'd need to factor in the 60 months of benefits you'd miss (about $87,000 total) if you waited from 62 to 67. The break-even point would be around age 79-80. If your husband has the significantly larger benefit, another strategy is for him to delay until 70 to maximize his benefit, which will eventually become your survivor benefit if he predeceases you.

This whole system makes me SO ANGRY. Why do they make everything so confusing??? I swear they do it on purpose so people make mistakes and get less money. My neighbor told me there's actually a special handbook SSA employees use that has all the REAL rules that they don't tell us about.