Question regarding filing for SS

[Carol1862]

I’d appreciate the guidance of the very qualified people on this forum. We retired 5 years ago and DH was asked to do consulting work this year. Should end by end of year. I just turned 64. We are not near the $170,000 cap on MAGI earnings for 2019 so I am not worried about the additional penalty for MC.

DH monthly SS is $2400. Mine at FRA is $1200. If we file and suspend (he qualifies due to age although that perk has been suspended), I’ll get a reduced amount and he’ll get half of my FRA. He won’t be penalized because he’s over FRA. At 70 he’ll switch over to his amount which will grow nicely next 4years.

According to the SS optimizer this is the way to go. I assumed we should just wait until 2020 since he’s working and we don’t need the money right now. Figured it’ll just grow. But mine is minimal. It’s his that we want to grow.

We have our savings/investments and SS. No pensions. So we do need to optimize SS.

I don’t want to make a huge blunder so anyone who can chime in I’d appreciate it. Maybe I’ve missed something.

 

[joeea]

According to the SS optimizer this is the way to go.

I don’t want to make a huge blunder so anyone who can chime in I’d appreciate it. Maybe I’ve missed something.

At this point, there's little chance of any huge blunder no matter what you do. Virtually everyone seems to be happy with their claiming choice without regard to their claiming at 62 or 70, or anything in between.

I would follow the advice of the SS optimizer, if optimizing is your goal. (Some prefer "peace of mind" or "getting back at the government" to financial optimization, for example.) I spent some time testing the tool and it does a terrific job in almost every case. The author is extremely knowledgeable and has done everyone a great service by offering this tool for free.

That said, I'd play around with it a bit, making sure to use the Advanced Options settings to check out various scenarios and make sure they still align with your assumptions about longevity, etc.

 

[Tiger8693]

We have our savings/investments and SS. No pensions. So we do need to optimize SS.

I think in most cases I have read about on here, with a significantly higher earning spouse, the general rule if the income is not "needed" would be to claim lower wage earning spouse earlier and delay the higher earning spouse as late as possible to allow for higher Survivor benefit.

Works out that is always the "optimizer" suggestion in our case anyway.

Good luck!

 

[Carol1862]

Thank you. I think we’re going ahead with it. I’m hoping you can file restricted application online. Otherwise I’ll have to make an appointment or call.