Understanding Social Security Benefits For Married Couples

Even though the basic rules apply to everyone a couple has more options than a single person because each member of a couple 1 can claim at different dates and may be eligible for spousal benefits.

Understanding social security benefits for married couples.

Married couples may have some advantages when deciding how and when to claim social security. If you file at 62 the earliest age possible your monthly benefit will be permanently reduced by 25 30 percent based on your full retirement age. Married couples often make a big mistake when it comes to deciding when to start taking their social security benefits. When married couples choose to maximize the higher earning person s benefit by delaying it acts as a powerful form of life insurance.

So if you are eligible for 1 000 as a personal benefit and 500 for a spousal benefit social security will send you the higher amount of 1 000. For example let s say you have never worked in a job where you paid into social security or you worked less than the 10 years required to earn a benefit and as a result you aren t eligible to receive benefits on your own work record. By a qualifying child we mean a child who is under age 16 or who receives social security disability benefits. How much you will get from social security.

The spousal benefit can be as much as half of the worker s primary insurance amount depending on the spouse s age at retirement. Social security helps older americans workers who become disabled and families in which a spouse or parent dies. As of june 2019 about 177 million people worked and paid social security taxes and about 64 million people received monthly social security benefits. Impact a married couple s total social security benefits.

If they qualify based on their own work histories a married couple can each receive the maximum individual retirement benefit. Social security basics everyone should consider. The maximum individual benefit can change each year as social security adjusts the maximum taxable earnings based on national wage trends and applies a cost of living increase if applicable. Married same sex couples can claim the same benefits as non same sex couples for social security including retirement benefits disability benefits and survivor s benefits.

Unmarried couples whether same sex or opposite sex are treated as individuals. They view the decision as if they were single which means the main factor they consider their break even age instead they should be looking at the joint life expectancy of both partners. For married people only considering monthly checks in terms of a single life.