I guess it’s just a sign of the times we are living in. But I am amazed by the number of emails that I get from elderly seniors, folks in their 70s, 80s and even 90s, who are hoping to get higher Social Security benefits. Today’s column highlights some examples.
Q: I am 82 years old. My wife is 78. I get $1,478 from Social Security. My wife gets $766. We started my Social Security at age 65. My wife took hers at 62.
I have always been convinced that we are getting the wrong Social Security amounts. I think we should be getting more. Is there anything we can do to get our Social Security checks adjusted to the proper amounts? And shouldn’t my wife be getting more benefits on my record?
A: Sorry, but there is nothing you can do about changing your own Social Security benefit checks. I have a hunch that I don’t really need to tell you that the time to question your benefit rate is not 20 years after those benefits began. You should have done so back when your Social Security checks first started.
But I can tell you this. Every study I have ever seen shows that the Social Security Administration has a remarkable record of accuracy when it comes to figuring retirement benefits. It’s something like 99.8 percent. I hope you are at least able to find some comfort knowing that it is extremely likely that you are being paid correctly.
And based on what you told me, it doesn’t sound like your wife is due anything extra on your account — at least while you are alive. Many people are under the mistaken impression that a wife is always due an amount equal to half of her husband’s benefit rate. But she is due half only if she waits until her full retirement age to start here benefits. Because she took her own Social Security at 62, those benefits could only be supplemented up to about one-third of your rate. That would be about $485. Her own benefit of $766 is much more than the $485 she is due in spousal benefits. That’s why she only gets her own retirement check.
And just so you know, if you die first, she will be due your full $1,478 in widow’s benefits. Or to put that another way, she will keep getting her $766 retirement benefit, and then she will start getting an extra $712 in widow’s benefits to take her total Social Security up to $1,478 per month.
Q: My wife and I went to a seminar about maximizing our Social Security benefits. But we left even more confused than we went in.
We are so worried that we are losing out on money. Here are our facts. I am 72. My wife is 71. I took my benefits at 66. My monthly check is $2,445. My wife filed when she was 62. She is getting $1,488. What can we do to maximize our benefits?
A: You can stop worrying and be happy! You are well past the age where you can do anything to change your Social Security benefit amounts. But as I tried to point out to other people in past columns, I think you should count your blessings. You and your wife are getting about $4,000 per month in Social Security benefits. There are millions of other senior couples out there who would love to be getting that much money.
Q: I am 72 and have been getting Social Security for 10 years. My wife just turned 70. When she filed for benefits at age 62, the Social Security rep said mine was $50 more than my wife’s own retirement, so he just gave her mine.
Now that she is 70, can my wife switch to her own benefits with the bonus that people get for delaying their benefits until that age?
A: Despite what you may think you were told, your wife is not getting just spousal benefits on your record. She is getting her own retirement, with a little extra from your account.
The rules say that anyone who takes benefits before age 66 must always be paid his or her own benefit first. So what actually happened when your wife turned 62 is that they paid your wife whatever she was due on her own retirement record. And then they supplemented that with the extra $50 on your account. So that means there is nothing for her to switch to now. She is getting everything she is due from Social Security.
Q: I am 77 years old. I worked for the federal government and get a civil service pension of $4,500 per month. My wife is 72 and gets $1,466 monthly from Social Security.
We just returned from a maximizing Social Security seminar. The guy putting on the seminar said I should be able to claim husband’s benefits on my wife’s Social Security record. But when I went to the Social Security office to do that, I was told I can’t. So who is right: the financial planner or the Social Security clerk?
A: The Social Security representative is correct. The fact that you are getting such a big civil service retirement pension precludes you from getting any spousal benefits from Social Security.
Q: I am 83. I am getting $1,444 per month in widow’s benefits from my husband’s record. I know from talking to other widows in the neighborhood that I should be getting more. Some women are getting more than $2,000 per month. Why am I getting such a small amount?
A: I really shouldn’t be so flip about this, but I’m tempted to say that you are getting a smaller Social Security check because you married the wrong guy! A widow’s benefit is based on her husband’s basic Social Security rate. And that rate is based entirely on his earnings. In other words, the more money a guy makes, and the more taxes he pays, the higher his Social Security check is going to be. So all those widows you know who claim to be getting higher Social Security checks must have been married to men who made more money than your husband did.
Or, it also might be that they started getting widow’s benefits at a later age. For example, if you started getting widow’s benefits at age 62, you are probably getting about 82 percent of your husband’s basic benefit. But if another woman started getting widow’s benefits at her full retirement age (currently age 66), she’d be getting 100 percent of hr husband’s Social Security.
