The decision to sign up for Social Security is not one to take lightly -- whether you're single as a retiree or you're married. But if you fall into the latter category, your filing decision could impact not just your own retirement finances, but those of your spouse.
Now when you're married, there's a host of different Social Security filing strategies you can employ. But there's one in particular you may want to strongly consider.
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Maximize one benefit in a really big way
You're entitled to your full monthly Social Security benefit based on your personal income history once full retirement age (FRA) arrives. That age is 67 if you were born in 1960 or later. Otherwise, it's either 66, or 66 and a specific number of months.
For each month you delay your Social Security claim beyond FRA, your benefit gets a boost. And while that incentive runs out at age 70, delaying your claim until that point could mean boosting your monthly benefit by 24% or more, depending on your specific FRA.
Now if you're married and are roughly the same ages, what you may want to do is have the higher earner delay their Social Security claim until age 70 while the lower earner claims their benefit at FRA. (This of course assumes that both spouses are entitled to a monthly benefit of their own.) This can be advantageous for two reasons.
First, if the higher earner delays their claim, they can score a really big boost that might serve as a nice amount of monthly income for both spouses to share. At the same time, having the lower earner file for benefits at FRA gives you access to Social Security income a bit sooner.
Meanwhile, if the lower earner outlives the higher earner, once the higher earner passes, the lower earner will be eligible for survivors benefits from Social Security. And those will amount to 100% of the higher earner's monthly benefit.
So with this strategy, you get a larger monthly benefit while the higher earner is still alive, and also, a larger monthly benefit for the surviving spouse should the higher earner pass away. It's an approach to claiming benefits that could end up working out really well for some couples.
Think through all of your options carefully
Although the strategy outlined above could be a great one for you and your spouse to employ, it's only one of many to consider. So before you file for Social Security, review your options with your spouse and list the pros and cons of each one.
You may decide that the above strategy doesn't work for you because the higher earner doesn't want to wait until age 70 to first start receiving Social Security. Or, if there's a notable age difference between you and your spouse, a different strategy might work better.
However, the above strategy is definitely worth considering when there's a difference in income and not such a big difference in age. It could provide a nice amount of financial stability for everyone involved.
