If you claim your regular Social Security benefit before your higher-earning spouse does, you have the option of switching to spousal benefits at a later date when (or after) your spouse decides to file.
A spouse can choose to retire as early as age 62, but doing so may result in a benefit as little as 32.5 percent of the worker's primary insurance amount. A spousal benefit is reduced 25/36 of one percent for each month before normal retirement age, up to 36 months.
The first exception, which can be deemed as the Social Security spousal benefits loophole, works where an individual who remarries at 60 or later may still be entitled to Social Security survivors' benefits if the second marriage ends before the death of the first spouse.
early as age 62, and then switch to the survivor benefit If you will be using one of these strategies, please ask a Social Security representative if you can receive one benefit and delay the other to increase its value. Otherwise, you may receive the greater of the two benefits.
Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.
The widow's penalty occurs when a surviving spouse's tax status reverts from married filing jointly to single. If you're a widow or widower, you can file a joint tax return for the year of your spouse's death.
Spouses and ex-spouses
Payments start at 71.5% of your spouse's benefit and increase the longer you wait to apply. For example, you might get: Over 75% at age 61.
And if you decide that one of you will wait longer than the other to start collecting, it makes more sense for the higher earner to wait. In other words, the split strategy that many couples use is to have the lower earner collect first for as long as the couple can manage their finances on one Social Security payment.
The maximum spousal benefit is 50% of the other spouse's full benefit. You may be eligible if you're married, divorced, or widowed. You can collect spousal benefits as early as age 62, but in most cases, the benefits are permanently reduced if you start collecting before your full retirement age.
The $1,000 per month rule is designed to help you estimate the amount of savings required to generate a steady monthly income during retirement. According to this rule, for every $240,000 you save, you can withdraw $1,000 per month if you stick to a 5% annual withdrawal rate.
If people born after 1960 claim their benefits the month they turn 62, they'll get only 70% of what they would have received had they waited until the full retirement age of 67. The average monthly payment of $1,784 drops by 30% during the first month of eligibility to $1,247.40.
If your spouse is not receiving any retirement benefits yet, then you could technically take your regular Social Security benefit as early as age 62. When your spouse files for their benefit later you could switch to spousal benefits.
Generally, the same payment rules apply to divorced wives and widows as to current wives and widows. That means most divorced women collect their own Social Security while the ex is alive, but they can apply for higher widow's rates when the ex dies.
Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.
The Social Security 5-year rule refers specifically to disability benefits. It requires that you must have worked five out of the last ten years immediately before your disability onset to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
Resource limits could also impact your Social Security
If you exceed that limit, you need to spend down your resources to be eligible. According to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 70,000 beneficiaries on average lose their benefits each year because they exceed the limit.
However, your maximum spouse's benefit remains 50% of their full retirement age benefit, not their higher amount including delayed retirement credits. (Your benefit as a surviving spouse would be based on the higher amount.)
If you've reached your full retirement age, you can receive 100% of your spouse's disability benefits. If you're between 50 and 59 and you also have a disability, you can receive 71.5% percent of your spouse's benefits.
A widow(er)'s exemption refers to a reduction of tax burdens on a taxpayer following the death of a spouse. State laws vary but generally allow for a reduction in taxes for a surviving spouse for a certain period.
Surviving spouse, at full retirement age or older, generally gets 100% of the worker's basic benefit amount. Surviving spouse, age 60 or older, but under full retirement age, gets between 71% and 99% of the worker's basic benefit amount.
The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act 1856, also Act XV, 1856, passed on 16 July 1856, legalised the remarriage of widows in all jurisdictions of India under East India Company rule. The law was enacted on 26 July 1856.