How Much Social Security Can You
Get If You’re Married?
By Shane Flait © 2010
Part of your
retirement income will come from
Social Security. But how much
social security income can you
expect as a married couple? As a
spouse, you
get the better of two Social
Security incomes. That’s what
this article is about.
Each person – married or not -
is entitled to his or her social
security benefit according to
his or her own earnings. But in
the case of marriage, you’ll
receive the higher of what you
are entitled to on your own
earnings or what you are
entitled to as the spouse of
your marriage partner – ‘the
spousal entitlement’.
Now as a spouse, whether you’ve
ever worked or not, you’re
entitled to up to 50% of the
social security income benefit
of your spouse. We’ll look at
the conditions on this below.
But realize that the benefits
you –as a spouse receive – do
not reduce the benefits that
your spouse is entitled to
receive on his own. As a result,
your family income (i.e. you and
your spouse) from social
security can be as high as 150%
of your spouse’s benefits or the
sum of the benefits that each of
you are entitled to based on
your own individual earnings.
Your own Social Security
Benefits
The amount of social security
income anyone will receive,
based on his or her own social
security earnings history, is
related to what is called the
‘primary insurance amount’ (PIA).
The PIA is your social security
benefit you would receive at
your full retirement age (FRA).
The FRA increases according to
your birth year. The FRA for
those born during the years 1943
to 1955 ( the boomer birth
years) is 66.
But anyone can choose to receive
his own earned benefits before
his FRA and as early as age 62.
But beginning your benefits
before your FRA permanently
reduces his benefits from the
PIA he would receive if he
retired at his FRA.
On the other hand, if he delays
beginning his Social Security
benefits until after his FRA,
then his monthly benefits will
be increased above his PIA. This
increase benefit for delaying
keeps on increasing until he
reaches 70 years of age.
Now back to the spousal
entitlement
For simplicity, we’ll assume
that the higher earner is the
husband who has the higher PIA.
Three conditions are necessary
for the wife’s ‘spousal
entitlement’:
1.
They must have been
married for 10 years for the
wife –as spouse- to be eligible
for the ‘spousal entitlement’ of
her husband’s (or exhusband’s)
social security benefit.
2.
She must be at least 62
years old, and
3.
She can receive her
spousal entitlement only when
husband files for his social
security benefit if they remain
married.
At her FRA she will receive
50% of her husband’s PIA for his
FRA unless she begins collecting
before her own FRA. Based on 65
years for her FRA, she’d receive
only about 46% at 64, 42% at 63,
and 37.5% at 62.
But remember
that she’ll receive the greater
of whatever ‘the spousal
entitlement’ is or her own
earned social security benefits.
Shane Flait is a writer and
educator. See more at
www.EasyRetirementKnowHow.com
