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Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers your retirement questions. Say goodbye to the oversimplified advice you've heard hundreds of times. This show is about getting into the nitty-gritty so you can make better decisions as you prepare for retirement. Text your questions to 913-363-1234 and we'll feature them on the show. Don't forget to grab a copy of the book, How to Retire on Time, or check out our resources by going to www.retireontime.com.
Hi. Mike Dekker, author of the book How to Retire on Time. Here's a question I was recently asked on my Retire on Time q and a. Check it out.
David:Yeah. How about this? Staying on this topic. How do you handle Social Security benefits for a widow or widower, just someone who's lost their spouse, had a dual income, and now
Mike:So there's there's two parts to this. One is understanding that you cannot file for Social Security unless you're retired. Mhmm. So if you're still working, you can't get your survivor benefits. Oh, right.
Mike:Because if you earn over a certain... I mean, maybe you... Or you... If you earn 20,000 or less as just part time income or something Mhmm. Then it could it could be fine.
Mike:But above a certain threshold, $2... Every $2 you earn above that, $1 is deducted from your benefit. Mhmm. The other thing too is you need to understand that the surviving spouse benefits stop growing at full retirement age. So there's an optimization schedule where you might...
Mike:And usually this is what I see is... And depends on age differences and all that, but you might take the survivor benefit first, and then file for your benefit later, like at 70 years old, because your benefit will grow until 70, but your your deceased spouse only is gonna go to full retirement age.
David:Okay.
Mike:Now sometimes there's an age difference and some discrepancies on the benefit size that you might wanna take your benefit early at like 62 years old, and then file for your spouse's benefit at 67 if that benefit is significantly higher. Oh. So everyone's gonna be different, but you wanna run the different scenarios. And this is very miss... Much misunderstood.
Mike:Those are two independent benefits. So you take all of one or kind of all of the other.
David:Oh, okay.
Mike:It's not the spousal calculation and people get that confused. Oh. Because in a spousal, if you file earlier, it can it can reduce your spousal benefits and so on. These are two completely independent benefits. So it...
Mike:Terrible losing the spouse. Yeah. It is the most advantageous way to optimize for Social Security. I mean, it's not worth it, but it's... At least the government was kind in those calculations.
David:That's nice.
Mike:Hey, I wanna pause real quick and just say, if you're getting close to retirement, I wanna invite you to download my book, How to Retire On Time. It's free. Just go to retireontime.com, and you can download my book, get the audiobook, the workbook, and so much more, including six plus calculators to help you prepare to retire on time. Check it out. Retireontime.com.
Mike:Alright. Let... Now let's get back to the show.