How to boost you Social Security Retirement Checks
By Andrea Coombes | The Wall Street Journal – June 30, 2012
You'd think claiming Social Security would be a simple retirement decision—you
retire and you start your benefits. But there are certain complex strategies
that can help pad a married couple's retirement savings with tens
of thousands of dollars of additional income.
Don't make your claiming decision lightly, says Joe Elsasser, an Omaha,
Neb., certified financial planner and creator of Social Security Timing,
a software program for pre-retirees and advisers to run scenarios to assess
strategies. "It's a decision that's going to impact you for
your entire life, and it's a decision that's going to make up
a substantial portion of your income," he says.
Specific strategies can help maximize savings, but couples also need to
avoid a common mistake. "Almost everyone thinks of it as their own
earnings record, their own benefit, as opposed to integrating what they
receive," Mr. Elsasser says.
Enrico Varrasso
Instead, make the decision as a couple. Consider a hypothetical situation.
The husband, the higher earner, believes he's going to die relatively
early and the wife thinks she'll live a long time. So the husband
claims his benefits as early as possible and the wife delays.
"That's exactly opposite of the scenario that should happen,"
Mr. Elsasser says.
Each year you delay claiming your benefits past your normal retirement
age, your benefit ticks about 8% higher, up to age 70, thanks to what
the Social Security Administration calls "delayed retirement credits."
And in the event of a spouse's death, the surviving spouse can take
the higher of her own benefit or that of the dead spouse.
If the husband claims early and then dies first, "effectively he's
shortchanged his wife's survivor benefit," Mr. Elsasser says.
Instead, that husband should delay his claim, so if need be the wife can
claim the highest possible benefit for the rest of her life. If the wife
dies first, the husband simply keeps his own benefit.
"You're trying to maximize benefits over both spouses' lives.
That's the key that most people miss," says Brett Horowitz, wealth
manager at Evensky & Katz Wealth Management in Miami.
A claiming strategy called "file and suspend" can help get the
most money. Say a husband plans to delay his benefit until age 70. He
is allowed to claim his benefit at his normal retirement age—say
it's 66—and then immediately suspend it.
That way, his benefit amount keeps growing—thanks to those delayed
retirement credits—but since he did make that initial claim, his
wife, at her full retirement age, can file a "restricted" application
to claim spousal benefits based on her husband's record, but not her
earned benefit.
Generally, spousal benefits are up to 50% of the other spouse's monthly
benefit at full retirement age (some age restrictions apply). In this
scenario, her own benefit now can grow until she hits 70, too.
In one hypothetical "file and suspend" scenario, a couple, both
66, could collect an additional $60,000 by delaying their benefits and
the wife taking spousal payouts while they wait, says Lisa Colletti, New
York-based director of wealth management at Aspiriant.
Another use of a "restricted" application: Say a 66-year-old
husband decides it makes sense for him to delay his benefits until he's
70. His wife started her benefits at 62. "What the husband doesn't
realize is he is entitled to 50% of his wife's benefit while he waits,
because she already filed," Mr. Horowitz says.
When he turns his full retirement age, the husband can tell the Social
Security Administration that, rather than filing for his own benefits,
he wants to restrict his benefits to his wife's record. If he changes
his mind, he can switch over to his own benefits at any time. In one scenario,
that couple would receive an additional $42,000 by the husband claiming
spousal benefits.
Note that the spouse who files a restricted application must be at least
full retirement age. "If you apply for spousal benefits prior to
full retirement age, then 'deemed filing' applies. You are deemed
to have filed for both your own benefit and the spousal benefit at the
same time," says Jim Blankenship, a certified financial planner in
New Berlin, Ill., and author of "A Social Security Owner's Manual."
It's tough to generalize about Social Security strategies. Each spouse's
age, benefit amounts and health outlook play a big role in how and when
to claim. The point is, don't claim before you assess your options.