“A report shows that 82% of surviving spouses could have collected a higher benefit, if they restricted their application to survivor benefits and waited until the age of 70 to claim their own retirement benefits.”
Losing a spouse at any time in life is difficult. However, losing a spouse while you are retired also presents some serious financial challenges. A recent article in Kiplinger, “Maximize Social Security benefits for surviving spouses,” explores the steps that a surviving spouse can take to make sure she is are receiving the most Social Security benefits possible. There’s a right way and several wrong ways to do this.
If you are widowed before claiming Social Security benefits, there are options to maximize Social Security payments by coordinating the timing of claims and survivor benefits.
If you don’t know about this, don’t count on Social Security to tell you about mixing and matching the benefits. A report issued early in 2018 by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General found that as many as 82% of surviving spouses taking benefits could have received a higher monthly benefit by restricting their application to survivor benefits only and delaying taking their own benefits up to age 70.
Without restricting an application, a beneficiary eligible for both benefits receives the highest one to which they are entitled.
Not knowing about how to maximize survivor benefits, can put a big hole in monthly income. The report projects that the Social Security Administration underpaid about $132 million to more than 9,000 beneficiaries age 70 and older, and in the coming years it will underpay more than 2,000 additional beneficiaries who are under age 70 – by about $9.8 million, once they reach age 70.
Educate yourself about how this works. Surviving spouses need to consider whether they can make the most of their benefits by taking the survivor benefit first, and later switching to their own benefit, or by taking their own benefit first and then switching to a survivor benefit. The key factor to consider in this equation: How much either benefit can grow.
You can claim a survivor benefit as early as age 60, or age 50 if disabled. However, it is reduced, if it is claimed before the survivor’s full retirement age (FRA). It won’t grow past the survivor’s full retirement age. The most a surviving spouse will receive is 100% of the benefit the deceased spouse received or was eligible to receive at his death.
Run the numbers and do the math. Once you figure out which number will grow the most, you may want to delay that benefit. The amounts and the age you claim could make a big difference in the quality of your retirement.
Resource: Kiplinger (Aug. 7, 2018) “Maximize Social Security benefits for surviving spouses”
“一份報告顯示，82％的倖存的配偶可以獲得更高的福利，如果他們的申請僅限於倖存者福利，並等到70歲才申請退休金。”
生命中任何時候失去配偶都會很痛苦。但是，在退休期間失去配偶更會帶來一些嚴重的經濟問題。Kiplinger最近的一篇文章，“Maximize Social Security benefits for surviving spouses,” (為倖存的配偶最大限度地提高社會保障福利) 探討倖存配偶可以採取的步驟，以確保她是獲得最多的社會保障福利。你可以選擇一種正確的方法和幾種錯誤的方法來做這件事。
如果您在申請社會安全保障福利之前喪偶，可以通過協調申請的時間和倖存者福利來最大化社會安全金。
如果您對此不了解，請不要依賴社會安全局來告訴您混合和匹配的好處。社會安全局監察長辦公室於2018年初發布的一份報告發現，多達82％的倖存配偶可以通過僅限於申請倖存者福利並延遲到70歲才領取因為可以獲得更高的每月福利金。
如果沒有其他限制，有權領取倖存者福利和本身的退休福利只能拿到較高的那份福利。
不知道如何最大限度地提高倖存者福利，可能嚴重的影響每月的收入。該報告指出，社會安全局向超過9,000名70歲及以上的受益人少支付了大約1.32億美元，並且在未來幾年內，它對超過2,000名70歲以下的受益人，當他們達到70歲時，少支付了大約980萬美元。
教育自己如何運作退休福利。倖存的配偶需要考慮他們是否可以通過首先獲得倖存者福利，然後轉為自己的福利，或者首先獲得自己的福利然後轉為倖存者福利來充分利用他們的福利。最需要考慮的關鍵因素是: 每份退休收益能增長多少。
你可以提前在60歲就申請遺屬撫恤金, 如果殘疾的話，50 歲就可以。然而，如果在倖存者達到退休年齡(FRA)之前申請的話，撫恤金就會減少。一旦倖存者的退休年齡過了，撫恤金就不會增長。倖存的配偶最多可領取過世配偶生前領取的或有權領取的全部福利。
你要學會計數。一旦你計算出哪個數字會增長最多, 你可能會想推遲這個份退休金。你所
領取的金額和申請的年齡會對你的退休品質產生很大的影響。
參考: Kiplinger (Aug. 7, 2018) “Maximize Social Security benefits for surviving spouses”
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