ThinkAdvisor has been publishing a sequence of Social Safety claiming case research over the previous a number of months. The fabric has been drawn from the up to date ALM publication “2024 Social Safety & Medicare Information,” by Michael Thomas with help from Jim Blair, a former Social Safety administrator, and Marc Kiner, a planning skilled with intensive expertise in public accounting.

Quite a few the case research have prompted readers to supply feedback and questions concerning the nuances of optimum claiming, together with the just lately featured case of the high-earning partner.

Within the instance, the optimum claiming method proved shocking to some readers. The massive takeaway was that when to say spousal advantages in circumstances with huge variations in earnings histories could make ready till age 70 a suboptimal technique. Delaying goes to be higher than claiming a considerably decreased profit at age 62, however the earlier assortment of the complete advantages will repay ultimately — except one member of the couple lives a very long time.

This and different counterintuitive findings prompted Thomas A. to jot down in final week with extra questions concerning the interplay of spousal and survivor advantages, this time in circumstances with related earnings histories. The solutions to Thomas’ questions, as detailed under, ought to supply extra meals for thought for advisors searching for to assist shoppers keep away from claiming errors and maximize their Social Safety Earnings.

The State of affairs

Thomas proposed the next state of affairs earlier than posing two basic questions: Think about a pair during which the husband was born in 1967 and the spouse was born in 1969. The previous has a projected employee advantage of $2,237 at age 62, and this will increase to $3,178 on the full retirement age of 67 and $3,940 on the most claiming age of 70. The spouse, in flip, has her personal employee profit projected as $2,008 at 62, growing to $3,055 at 67 and $3,870 at 70.

As Thomas famous, one technique out there to this couple can be for the husband to attract his early advantage of $2,237 at age 62, whereas the spouse plans to attend for her most profit at age 70. Whereas this method is probably not mathematically optimum relying on the longevity projection assumed, it’s nonetheless comparatively efficient from a wealth maximization perspective whereas additionally probably offering revenue early within the couple’s retirement.

The massive query, although, is what occurs if the spouse dies unexpectedly as a result of an accident or sickness. Particularly, can the husband on this state of affairs swap to his spouse’s advantage of $3,870 when she would have reached 70? And, if the husband dies earlier than the spouse turns 70, can she obtain his profit till she is 70 after which swap to her most advantage of $3,870?

What the Consultants Say

As defined by Blair, the previous SSA official, the primary query comes up frequently in observe. The reply is blended. That’s, whereas the husband does profit from the deceased spouse’s delayed claiming, he received’t be capable to absolutely delay claiming her profit by way of what would have been her seventieth birthday.

He would as an alternative be capable to draw an quantity equal to what her profit would have been when she died, Blair explains. So, if the spouse was age 69 when she handed, the husband would turn out to be entitled to her main insurance coverage quantity plus delayed retirement credit earned as much as her month of dying.