Married Couples: Coordinate Social Security Claims to Boost Benefits
Social Security is a significant part of most married couples' retirement-income plans. And couples can bolster that foundation of income by thousands of dollars by carefully timing when each spouse claims benefits.
Coordinating claims can make the most of the benefits available to each spouse. For instance, one spouse can delay claiming past full retirement age to boost his benefit amount with delayed-retirement credits, while the other spouse files earlier than full retirement age to bring in some income now.
That's the strategy Robert, 71, a , and his wife, 66, followed. She started benefits at 62 and uses her check for pocket money and gifts for her grandchildren, he says. Robert, who asked that their last
