| By :
Shane Flait
Part of your retirement income will come from Social Security. But how much social security income can you expect as a married couple? As a spouse, you get the better of two Social Security incomes. That's what this article is about. Each person - married or not - is entitled to his or her social security benefit according to his or her own earnings. But in the case of marriage, you'll receive the higher of what you are entitled to on your own earnings or what you are entitled to as the spouse of your marriage partner - 'the spousal entitlement'. Now as a spouse, whether you've ever worked or not, you're entitled to up to 50% of the social security income benefit of your spouse. We'll look at the conditions on this below. But realize that the benefits you -as a spouse receive - do not reduce the benefits that your spouse is entitled to receive on his own. As a result, your family income (i.e. you and your spouse) from social security can be as high as 150% of your spouse's benefits or the sum of the benefits that each of you are entitled to based on your own individual earnings. *Your own Social Security Benefits: The amount of social security income anyone will receive, based on his or her own social security earnings history, is related to what is called the 'primary insurance amount' (PIA). The PIA is your social security benefit you would receive at your full retirement age (FRA). The FRA increases according to your birth year. The FRA for those born during the years 1943 to 1955 ( the boomer birth years) is 66. But anyone can choose to receive his own earned benefits before his FRA and as early as age 62. But beginning your benefits before your FRA permanently reduces his benefits from the PIA he would receive if he retired at his FRA. On the other hand, if he delays beginning his Social Security benefits until after his FRA, then his monthly benefits will be increased above his PIA. This increase benefit for delaying keeps on increasing until he reaches 70 years of age. *Now back to the spousal entitlement: For simplicity, we'll assume that the higher earner is the husband who has the higher PIA. Three conditions are necessary for the wife's 'spousal entitlement': 1. They must have been married for 10 years for the wife -as spouse- to be eligible for the 'spousal entitlement' of her husband's (or exhusband's) social security benefit. 2. She must be at least 62 years old, and 3. She can receive her spousal entitlement only when husband files for his social security benefit if they remain married. At her FRA she will receive 50% of her husband's PIA for his FRA unless she begins collecting before her own FRA. Based on 65 years for her FRA, she'd receive only about 46% at 64, 42% at 63, and 37.5% at 62. But remember that she'll receive the greater of whatever 'the spousal entitlement' is or her own earned social security benefits.
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