Wife filed for SS today!

[disneysteve]

Big milestone here for us. My wife filed for SS today. She turned 62 in December. We checked opensocialsecurity and spoke with our CFP and our CPA and all agreed that there was no reason to wait. She'll be getting $870/mo until I turn 70 and claim mine and she switches to spousal benefits.

I guess this is one perk to getting older.

 

[Koolau]

Big milestone here for us. My wife filed for SS today. She turned 62 in December. We checked opensocialsecurity and spoke with our CFP and our CPA and all agreed that there was no reason to wait. She'll be getting $870/mo until I turn 70 and claim mine and she switches to spousal benefits.

I guess this is one perk to getting older.

Heh, heh, one of the few perks of getting older - but one of the best!! Enjoy the extra income. Let us know if/how it changes things for you.

 

[SnowballCamper]

I'll be there in a decade or so. So she's taking you out for lunch every day now?

 

[erkevin]

I get my first check on the 4th wednesday of this month. It is, however, going right into investments.

 

[TickTock]

Woohoo! Good for you and your DW.

 

[Dtail]

Congrats. Got my first check last month. Blends in with the portfolio for expense usage.

 

[ElizabethT]

Congratulations! We followed same formula- I filed at 62, then spouse at 70. My own earned benefits are larger than my spousal benefits would be. If my spouse pre-deceases me, I'll be eligible to transition to 100% of his larger benefit.

We are having so much fun with the 'new' monies- joined a country club, a fancier gym, new cars for us both (one year apart), and giving thought to beginning to fly Business or First class. And fancier everything else, travel related.

The wait felt long, for sure. But now it feels like 'Yippee!!!'

 

[disneysteve]

So she's taking you out for lunch every day now?

Well she won't get her first check until March so not yet, but I like the way you think.

 

[disneysteve]

Enjoy the extra income. Let us know if/how it changes things for you.

I can tell you the plan as we've already discussed it. My wife always feels bad about spending money on personal stuff no matter how many times I tell her that it's fine and we have all that we need. So to combat that, her SS payment will go into our regular account and then she will immediately draw (or I will transfer) $200/mo into her personal account for her to use as she pleases. No questions asked. No discussion needed. No judgement. Buy whatever you want to buy with that money. And if $200/mo isn't enough, we'll up that amount. The remainder will go toward joint spending and, most likely, some will end up getting invested because I don't see us suddenly spending an extra $670/mo (plus her $200).

 

[CalBird]

Always feel good to have steady and forever income. Finally got government to pay you. Wait that’s actually your money .

 

[Koolau]

I can tell you the plan as we've already discussed it. My wife always feels bad about spending money on personal stuff no matter how many times I tell her that it's fine and we have all that we need. So to combat that, her SS payment will go into our regular account and then she will immediately draw (or I will transfer) $200/mo into her personal account for her to use as she pleases. No questions asked. No discussion needed. No judgement. Buy whatever you want to buy with that money. And if $200/mo isn't enough, we'll up that amount. The remainder will go toward joint spending and, most likely, some will end up getting invested because I don't see us suddenly spending an extra $670/mo (plus her $200).

Good starting point! I like the idea of the account with a monthly "re-charge."

Heh, heh, I thought DW would never spend any money but she loves jewelry - the cheap stuff. She's found an internet outlet that she loves and she's been spending maybe a couple of hundred per month there (So much, in fact, that she "had" to buy a jewelry box to hold all of it). I was proud of her.

 

[treeofpain]

I get my first check the 3rd Wednesday of this month. Congrats!

 

[old medic]

I guess this is one perk to getting older.

Congratulations on this goal line. DW has 5 years to 62 and will start SS as soon as we get everything moved to Roth.
To paraphrase the JG Wentworth commercial... " Its my money and I want it NOW!"

 

[big-papa]

Big milestone here for us. My wife filed for SS today. She turned 62 in December. We checked opensocialsecurity and spoke with our CFP and our CPA and all agreed that there was no reason to wait. She'll be getting $870/mo until I turn 70 and claim mine and she switches to spousal benefits.

I guess this is one perk to getting older.

Congrats! My wife filed about a month ago and will turn 66 in April, with her first benefits deposit happening in May. Also driven by results from opensocialsecurity.com - I'll be starting at age 70, which is a little over 5 years away and am using a TIPS ladder as a bridge until then. No spousal benefits in our case.

Cheers.

 

[Flieger]

Unless you just plan to wait to 70 just because, if you start your SS at FRA, she will get the max Spousal she can get (doesn't go up after FRA). Survivor bene is a different story, but from prior posts it doesn't seem you guys need extra.

Flieger

 

[MichaelB]

Big milestone here for us. My wife filed for SS today. She turned 62 in December. We checked opensocialsecurity and spoke with our CFP and our CPA and all agreed that there was no reason to wait. She'll be getting $870/mo until I turn 70 and claim mine and she switches to spousal benefits.

I guess this is one perk to getting older.

So, you’ll be a kept man . Enjoy it while you can.

 

[disneysteve]

Unless you just plan to wait to 70 just because, if you start your SS at FRA, she will get the max Spousal she can get (doesn't go up after FRA). Survivor bene is a different story, but from prior posts it doesn't seem you guys need extra.

Thanks. I was aware of that regarding the spousal benefit. I’m still 5+ years from 67 so I’m sure I’ll run the numbers again and reevaluate when I get there.

 

[disneysteve]

Thanks. I was aware of that regarding the spousal benefit. I’m still 5+ years from 67 so I’m sure I’ll run the numbers again and reevaluate when I get there.

Can she switch to spousal benefits even if I haven’t claimed yet?

 

[Dash man]

Congratulations! My DW will begin her SS in six months when she turns 70. I started mine five years ago this July at 64. It’s nice seeing it deposited like clockwork!

 

[CalBird]

Can she switch to spousal benefits even if I haven’t claimed yet?

No she can’t. But you can claim then suspend, then she can claim.

 

[Flyfish1]

Unless you just plan to wait to 70 just because, if you start your SS at FRA, she will get the max Spousal she can get (doesn't go up after FRA). Survivor bene is a different story, but from prior posts it doesn't seem you guys need e

I did not know that. Thx.

OP - Congrats!

 

[oldtimer]

No she can’t. But you can claim then suspend, then she can claim.

At one time a number of years ago you could do that. But now once you suspend your benefit it suspend the spousal benefit.

 

[disneysteve]

At one time a number of years ago you could do that. But now once you suspend your benefit it suspend the spousal benefit.

Then I guess she's collecting on her history until I'm 70 (or whenever I claim if it's before that).

 

[HMMY]

Right now, opensocialsecurity.com is still telling me to wait until age 70 and my husband to file at 62, so I'm waiting for his SS to finally be bigger than mine and the recommendation to flip and tell me to take it at 62!

 

[audreyh1]

Right now, opensocialsecurity.com is still telling me to wait until age 70 and my husband to file at 62, so I'm waiting for his SS to finally be bigger than mine and the recommendation to flip and tell me to take it at 62!

One thing I did with opensocialsecurity.com was change the lifespan tables (advanced) to better match our current non-smoking health, and I also carefully did comparisons between some ages. The lifetime earnings differences were less than 1% in the cases I compared, so it may not be that critical.