Social Security Answers
Question 5. My wife will have a very small amount of Social Security coming to her at age 62, about $200 a month. How can she increase that amount in the next few years? Is it true that the government takes your best 5 years and that is what your monthly Social Security retirement check is based on? If this is the case, if she were to show a yearly income of say $35,000 a year for the next few years, would this raise her benefits? At this time she is showing no income.
Answer. Determining Social Security retirement benefits can be very confusing, but here's help.
First, the government does not take your best 5 years to compute your Social Security benefit; that approach is used by some private employers. Instead, Social Security bases a person's benefits on all of your highest earnings years, up to a maximum of 35 years.
Second, your total Social Security income as a married couple will be the sum of the retirement benefit earned by the spouse entitled to the highest benefit (I assume that would be you), PLUS the LARGER of
(1) half of your retirement benefit, or
(2) the retirement benefit that your wife earned as a result of her own employment history.Example #1 - Both husband and wife worked: If one spouse earned a $1,500 monthly benefit, and the second spouse earned a $1,200 monthly benefit because of his/her own work history, the couple's total Social Security benefit would be $2,700 ($1,500 + $1,200) each month.
Example #2 - Both husband and wife worked: If one spouse has earned a $1,500 monthly benefit, but the second spouse earned only a $200 monthly benefit because of his/her own work history, the second spouse's benefit would be disregarded. Instead, the second spouse would be entitled to a Social Security Spouse Benefit equal to 1/2 of the first spouse's benefit. Therefore, this couple's total Social Security benefit would be $2,250 ($1,500 + $750) each month.
Example #3 - Only one spouse worked: The couple's total Social Security income would be $1,500 PLUS a spouse benefit amount equal to half the primary amount ($750) for a total of $2,250 each month.
Upon the death of one spouse:
If you are the first to pass away, your wife's spouse benefit would disappear and she would begin to receive your monthly benefit instead.
If your wife is the first to pass away, her benefit would disappear and you would continue to receive your monthly benefit.
So, assuming that you are entitled to a benefit of at least $700 to $800, it does not appear that your wife could earn enough money to increase the Social Security benefit to which she's entitled. But, she can go back to work to increase your total income as a couple even if she's already receiving Social Security benefits. Click on Social Security Benefits to go to our page that provides more information about working after retirement.
Return To –> Social Security Questions
Send this page to a friend ...
.
© Copyright 2000-2008 TodaysSeniors.com. All Rights Reserved.
