Note: with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 into law, File & Suspend and Restricted Application have been effectively eliminated for anyone born in 1954 or later. If born before 1954 there are some options still available, but these are limited as well. Please see the article The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details. One provision of Social Security benefits that is relatively unknown is the restricted application for Spousal Benefits. This provision allows a person to apply for benefits based upon his or her spouse’s record while delaying receipt of benefits based upon his or her own record. The restricted application is only available when three factors have been met: 1 – the individual filing the restricted application has reached Full Retirement Age (FRA); and 2 – the individual has not filed for his or her own Retirement Benefit; and 3 […]
Social Security spousal benefit
Social Security Spousal Benefit Calculation Before FRA
Jane’s Double Twisted 3D stars2_rev (Photo credit: mimickr) How is the Spousal Benefit calculated? I’ve covered this topic in several prior posts, but thought I’d give it another shot, to hopefully close this chapter for now. I’ve heard conflicting answers from various corners of the SSA world – both personally and from reader communications. Too often there is a pat answer that the Spousal Benefit, if taken at FRA (Full Retirement Age) is always 50% of the other spouse’s PIA (Primary Insurance Amount). This is not always the case, if the individual has begun receiving retirement benefits based on his or her own record before FRA and then later begins receiving the Spousal Benefit. When an individual begins receiving retirement benefits based upon his or her own record has a lasting effect on the amount of all retirement benefits that this individual will receive, including Spousal Benefits. This is due […]
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Calculating the PIA
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH (Photo credit: mademoiselle louise) In determining your retirement benefits from Social Security, as well as those of any dependents who may claim benefits based upon your record, the Primary Insurance Amount, or PIA, is an important factor. The PIA is the amount of benefit that you would receive if you began receiving benefits at exactly your Full Retirement Age, or FRA. (see this article for information about determining your FRA). The PIA is only one of the factors used in determining the actual amount of your retirement benefit – the other factor being the date (or rather your age) when you elect to begin receiving retirement benefits. So, how is PIA calculated? There are several factors that go into the calculation of the PIA. You start off with your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME – which we defined in this article about the AIME). Then, we take […]
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Example Using Spousal Benefits and Delayed Retirement Credits for Social Security
(Photo credit: jodigreen) Note: with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 into law, File & Suspend and Restricted Application have been effectively eliminated for anyone born in 1954 or later. If born before 1954 there are some options still available, but these are limited as well. Please see the article The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details. This particular situation was presented to me by a reader. Since the facts represent a fairly common situation that we haven’t addressed here in the past, I thought I’d present it here for discussion. Here’s the original question (altered a bit for clarity): My wife and I are age 65 & 67 respectively. We’re both still working part-time, and my wife has now 20 years of earnings on her Social Security record. At this point her PIA is approximately 45% of my PIA, and increasing […]
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The Social Security Spousal Benefit – Further Explanation
Image via Wikipedia Note: with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 into law, File & Suspend and Restricted Application have been effectively eliminated for anyone born in 1954 or later. If born before 1954 there are some options still available, but these are limited as well. Please see the article The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details. Following up my article which provided several brief examples of the Social Security Spousal Benefit, I thought I’d provide some further explanation and background for the provision. It appears from some of the feedback I have received that there is a great deal of confusion over this provision, so hopefully the further background explanation that I’m providing here will be of help. I have listed below several additional background details about how the Social Security System works, in order to help you better understand the […]
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The Mystery of Social Security
Social Security has become a significant part of many retirees’ sustenance, ever since it was first introduced back in the 1930’s. As the traditional pension plan goes the way of the buggy-whip and common investor behavior leads to poor results in savings plans (if there are any savings at all!), the Social Security benefit becomes more and more important. Unfortunately, the way Social Security works is a mystery for most folks. There’s really not much in the way of guidance for using the system, and relying solely on the phone representatives from the Social Security Administration is bound to lead you to a less-than-optimal result. As with most financial activities, it pays to learn as much as you can about your options, possible strategies, and the pluses and minuses of various choices that you make. A Social Security Owner’s Manual is an attempt at providing you with the groundwork to […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on 
A Medicare Owner’s Manual, is updated with 2020 facts and figures. This manual is available on 
Social Security for the Suddenly Single can be found on Amazon at 
Sterling’s first book, Lose Weight Save Money, can be 
An IRA Owner’s Manual, 2nd Edition is available for purchase on Amazon. Click the link to choose the 
Jim’s book – A Social Security Owner’s Manual, is now available on Amazon. Click this link for the 
And if you’ve come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed “advisor’s advisor”.