Will my Husband collect any SS?

[TNBound]

My DH retired from the post office and receives a Civil Service pension. However, he's also been a substitute teacher for several years now and has enough credits for SS. Believe me, there's no windfall here, because his non government wages have been very small, but he does pay in to SS. According to his SS statements, he's eligible for $375 at 65. I've read about WEP and still can't figure out if he's subject to the offset or not. Do any of you know how this would work?

 

[TNBound]

Could this be moved to the FIRE and Money forum? TY

 

[Philliefan33]

If your DH has enough credits to be eligible for SS, but fewer than 30 years of significant earnings subject to SS, his Social Security benefit will be decreased by WEP. If he has 20 years or less of social security earnings, his benefit will be cut by about 40%. There are special rules if the spouse is more than ten years younger or if his government pension is small-- see ssa.gov for a more detailed explanation.

 

[Sue J]

Try here -

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/wep.html

 

[Sunset]

I am facing WEP as well, here is my thinking on it.

My non-SS pension is small, and my SS will be about $1,250 roughly , so based on that.

I am delaying SS to age 70, so it will grow, and taking the non-SS pension immediately (at reduced amount).

The idea being, I get 10 years of the non-SS pension, and then when I get SS, it gets reduced, but the amount it is reduced is reduced since my non-SS pension is about 25% lower than if I had waited.

I did run the numbers and this works out to the highest amount, unless I live to 90. Depending upon your pension amounts it could work out different for you.

I compared various scenarios and I used a 50% cut due to WEP (50% of non-SS amount).
take non-SS early, take SS at FRA.
take non-SS early, take SS at 70
take non-ss at 65, take SS at FRA
take non-ss at 65, take SS at 70
take non-ss at 70, take SS at 70 -> gave me the most if I live to 90.

I'd be interested if others have done this calculation and what they decided, as I have not pulled the cord yet.

 

[Sunset]

If your DH has enough credits to be eligible for SS, but fewer than 30 years of significant earnings subject to SS, his Social Security benefit will be decreased by WEP. If he has 20 years or less of social security earnings, his benefit will be cut by about 40%. There are special rules if the spouse is more than ten years younger or if his government pension is small-- see ssa.gov for a more detailed explanation.

Wep talks about 40% but that is in the SS calcualations instead of using the normal 90 of your earnings, so that is really a 50% difference.

They do claim to regardless of the calculations not cut your SS by more than 50%. So I used the 50% rule for myself as that is the worst it could be.

 

[Philliefan33]

Wep talks about 40% but that is in the SS calcualations instead of using the normal 90 of your earnings, so that is really a 50% difference.

They do claim to regardless of the calculations not cut your SS by more than 50%. So I used the 50% rule for myself as that is the worst it could be.

If you are going through the effort of doing multiple calculations to maximize your situation, it would be worth using the WEP calculator to get the actual effect on your number. Just using 50% might be giving you a false conclusion.

 

[TNBound]

You mentioned the WEP calculator. I plugged in earnings for each year off his SS statement and the amount of benefit was about the same as on his actual statement. That really confused me. Either way, it's not life changing or anything, but it would be nice to know and it could at least pay a couple utility bills. It may warrant a visit to the SS office, which I'm sure will be a great fun.

 

[Philliefan33]

I seem to recall something about a minimum payment from SS, where WEP would not be taken out. Your DH's estimate of $375 probably is below the minimum.