{"id":45778,"date":"2020-01-15T10:09:32","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T15:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=45778"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:09:53","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T15:09:53","slug":"ask-rusty-when-should-i-claim-my-widows-benefit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2020\/01\/ask-rusty-when-should-i-claim-my-widows-benefit\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Rusty \u2013 When Should I Claim My Widow\u2019s Benefit?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dear Rusty: My husband passed away at the age of 52,\nand I was 53. I am currently 59. I’ve read about and been encouraged to file\nfor widow\u2019s benefits from Social Security when I turn 60. My question is: does\ndoing that impact when I should file for my regular Social Security benefits?\nIn reading on many websites regarding my question, this never is addressed on\nwhat is best. Signed: Widowed Survivor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Survivor: You have my sympathy for the loss of your\nhusband at such a young age. I\u2019ll try to clarify your options for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provided you have not remarried you can claim your survivor\nbenefit at age 60, but if you do it will be reduced by 28.5% from what it would\nbe at your full retirement age (FRA) of 67. As long as you are explicit when\nclaiming your survivor benefit that you are not also applying for your own\nSocial Security benefit, there will be no negative impact to your eventual\nSocial Security retirement benefit when you claim that. But, determining which\nbenefit to take, and when, requires some thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your goal should be to get the highest benefit possible for\nthe rest of your life. To help you decide how and when to file, you should\nfirst see what your survivor benefit will be at your full retirement age (100%\nof what your husband was entitled to at his death). If that amount is more than\nyou are entitled to on your own at age 70 then you should consider waiting\nuntil age 67 (your FRA) to claim your widow\u2019s benefit, so you can get that higher\nsurvivor benefit for the rest of your life. Conversely, if your own age 70\nbenefit will be more than your widow\u2019s benefit at your FRA, then claiming your\nwidow\u2019s benefit first and allowing your own benefit to grow until age 70 when\nit reaches maximum would be the more prudent choice. You can get estimates of\nboth your survivor benefit and your age 70 retirement benefit by contacting\nSocial Security. But if claiming the survivor benefit at age 60 is what you\ndecide, or if you were to instead claim your Social Security retirement\nbenefits early (e.g., age 62) there\u2019s more for you to consider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are collecting any Social Security benefits before\nyou reach your full retirement age (FRA) and you are still working, you will be\nsubject to Social Security\u2019s \u201cearnings limit\u201d which restricts the amount you\ncan earn before they take back some of your benefits (the earnings limit\nchanges annually; for 2020 it is $18,240). Up until the year you reach your\nFRA, they will take back benefits equal to one half of any earnings you have\nover the limit. During the year you reach your FRA the limit increases by about\n2.5 times and the penalty is less, and once you reach your FRA there is no\nlonger a limit on your earnings. So, if you claim your survivor benefit at age 60\nand are working, exceeding the earnings limit will result in you permanently\nlosing some of your survivor benefits. If, instead, you claim your SS\nretirement benefit early (e.g., at age 62) you\u2019ll still be subject to the\nearnings limit until you reach age 67, but at your FRA they will give you time\ncredit for any months you didn\u2019t get your retirement benefits and increase your\nbenefit amount accordingly.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The important point to remember is that you have a choice of\nwhich benefit to take, and evaluating your options as described above should\nlead you to the right answer – whether you should claim your reduced survivor\nbenefit at age 60, or to delay until it reaches maximum at age 67.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Rusty: My husband passed away at the age of 52, and I was 53. I am currently 59. I’ve read about and been encouraged to file for widow\u2019s benefits from… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":45779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}