Wife turns 62 in December. I've been collecting since 62 myself. Does she just get half of my check?

I've been on this board long enough that people know my story: claimed at 62 in 2021, no regrets, canoe on the roof, etc. What I've never posted about is my wife, because until now there was nothing to decide.

She turns 62 in December. She worked on and off, mostly part time while the kids were small and then a stretch at a dentist's office, so her own record is thin. Her statement says about $640 a month at her full retirement age. Mine says my full retirement age amount was around $2,480, though what actually lands in the bank is about $1,950 now after the early reduction and a few years of raises.

What I THOUGHT I knew: she can claim on my record and get half of mine, and since I've already filed she can do that the minute she turns 62. So we've been penciling in "half of Bill's" as her number, call it $975. Then my brother-in-law says no, half of what? Half of the $2,480 or half of the $1,950? And does her claiming at 62 cut it the way mine got cut? And does her taking a spousal benefit shrink MY check somehow? He didn't know, he just knew enough to make me doubt the whole thing.

She also still does two mornings a week at the dentist. Don't know if that matters. Would like to walk into December with a real number instead of the one I made up.

Bill I'm in the same boat one step behind you, my wife claims her own at 62 next year and hers is small too. Our advisor told us she does NOT get the "half" until I actually file at 67, which surprised me, I'd assumed the half was automatic. So you're ahead of me there because you've already filed. Interested in the answer on which half though, I'd assumed half the check.

I claimed on my husband's record at 62, a long time ago now, and the number was a good deal less than "half" in a way nobody warned me about. I don't remember the arithmetic anymore but I remember the feeling of the first letter. Get the real figure before December, not after.

midwestbill said:

Half of the $2,480 or half of the $1,950?

Bill, the direct answer is that neither of those halves is her number, so let me build the real one up from the pieces. General rules, not advice for your household, and the figures below are illustrations from what you posted rather than anything I can verify from here.

Start with the ceiling. A spousal benefit tops out at 50% of the higher earner's primary insurance amount, which is the full retirement age figure on your record, not the reduced check you actually receive. Your early claim reduced YOUR benefit; it does not shrink the base her spousal benefit is measured against. So the ceiling is roughly half of $2,480, about $1,240, and that is what she would get if she waited until her own full retirement age of 67. Not $975.

Now the age reduction, which is where Carolyn's "less than half" comes from. Because she has her own record, Social Security treats her as filing for both at once (deemed filing). She gets her own benefit first, then a spousal excess on top: the difference between the $1,240 ceiling and her own $640 full retirement age amount, which is $600. Each piece is reduced separately for claiming at 62. Her own $640 loses about 30%, to roughly $450. The $600 spousal excess loses about 35% (spousal benefits are cut more steeply than retirement benefits), to roughly $390. Add them and she lands near $840 a month at 62, versus about $1,240 at 67. Claiming at the earliest date costs her about a third, permanently, and unlike your own benefit a spousal benefit does not grow past 67, so there is no reason for her to wait beyond that.

Your brother-in-law's other worry, whether her spousal benefit reduces your check: no. Spousal benefits are paid on top of the worker's benefit, not carved out of it. The only thing you have already done that affects her is the survivor picture, and there the rule has a floor worth knowing: if the higher earner claimed early and dies first, the survivor benefit is limited to the larger of what he was receiving or 82.5% of his full retirement age amount, taken at her full retirement age. On your figures that floor is about $2,050. The site's guide to spousal and survivor benefits lays out both halves of that.

The dentist mornings do matter, a little. Because she would be claiming before full retirement age, the earnings test applies to her: in 2026, $1 is withheld for every $2 earned above $24,480. Two mornings a week is very likely under that line, but it is her wages that count, not your benefit or any IRA withdrawals. The full claiming trade-offs, including the earnings test, are in when to claim Social Security.

What I cannot tell you is whether $840 at 62 or $1,240 at 67 is the better choice for the two of you. That depends on her health, what you would draw from savings in the five years between, and how the survivor number changes the calculation. Her my Social Security account will show the spousal estimate once you are linked, and a fee-only advisor can run the three ages side by side in a single sitting. Walk into December with that, not with a number from a kitchen table.

The "half of his check" thing is the single most repeated wrong fact I hear at work, from patients and from coworkers. It's half of his full retirement age number, less for claiming early, and it's a ceiling not a promise. Printing Daniel's post for the break room.

Closing this one out. Got her signed up for her own online account, and once it connected to my record the estimate at 62 came in at $852, near enough to Daniel's $840 that I stopped arguing with the internet. At 67 it shows $1,246.

We haven't decided. Truth is she wants the money in December and I want her to wait to 67 because of the survivor number, which I'd never thought about until this thread, and we're taking both estimates to a fee-only advisor in October. Whatever we pick, at least it'll be picked on purpose. Brother-in-law has been informed he was right to doubt me, which he's enjoying.