Ask Larry

I m 67 and and was laid off in 2020 due to covid, I have emergency savings and plan to wait until I am 70 to apply for SS. I am considering applying for my deceased spouse benefits ( I never remarried) the benefit is small, 463.00 a month but everything helps. If I take the retro on the spouse benefit, I think they said that would be around 3000 something. Will that lower my benefit when I retire at 70 ? I have heard about the danger of accepting the retro reducing your SS income but since it is my deceased spouse benefit, will that lower my benefit when I switch to my benefit at age 70? thank you for your assistance.

Hi. No, collecting survivor benefits will not lower the amount of your future Social Security retirement benefit. If your own benefit rate will be higher than your survivor rate, you would almost certainly want to claim your survivor benefits as soon as possible, including the maximum 6 months of retroactivity. You can then apply for your own higher retirement benefits later, and the fact that you previously collected survivor benefits will have absolutely no adverse effect on your own benefit rate.

Best, Jerry