The 1 Thing About Social Security Spousal Benefits All Married Retirees Need to Know

• Social Security spousal benefits tin beryllium worthy up to 50% of your spouse's payment astatine their afloat status age.

• You tin turn your ain benefits by delaying your claim, but you can't turn a spousal payment the aforesaid way.

• It's important to person a realistic thought of what Social Security spousal benefits volition wage you.

• The $23,760 Social Security bonus astir retirees wholly place ›

There are definite benefits to being joined erstwhile you're older. For 1 thing, you person idiosyncratic to walk your days with successful the lack of being engaged with a job. And also, it's bully to person idiosyncratic to commiserate with connected the trials of aging.

Being joined tin besides beryllium advantageous from a Social Security standpoint. Even if you didn't gain capable enactment credits to suffice for Social Security connected your own, if your spouse is eligible for monthly benefits based connected their income record, you whitethorn beryllium eligible for spousal benefits.

But it's important to recognize however Social Security spousal benefits work. It's besides important to recognize however overmuch they'll wage you.

If you and your spouse are expecting Social Security to beryllium a superior root of status income, past it's important to person a bully consciousness of what you'll get from the program. This means that if 1 of you is entitled to benefits based connected an income grounds and the different is eligible for spousal benefits only, it's important that you cognize what those 2 benefits combined mightiness magnitude to.

In a nutshell, Social Security spousal benefits max retired astatine 50% of what the benefit-earning spouse collects astatine their afloat status age. So, let's accidental you're the 1 signing up for spousal benefits and your spouse is the earner successful your household. If their monthly payment astatine afloat status property is $2,000, your maximum spousal payment is $1,000 a period astatine your afloat status age.

One country wherever couples claiming spousal benefits whitethorn get tripped up is reasoning they'll hold their spousal payment assertion for boosted monthly checks. But that strategy works lone erstwhile you're claiming Social Security based connected your ain income records.

In that case, for each twelvemonth you hold your assertion past afloat status age, your monthly benefits get an 8% boost. But that boost does not use to spousal benefits, truthful it's important to program accordingly. You don't privation to overbank connected Social Security income for your status that whitethorn not travel through.

In this example, the spouse claiming Social Security connected their ain net grounds could turn their monthly payment beyond $2,000 by delaying past afloat status age. But the maximum worth of the spousal payment successful this illustration is inactive $1,000.