September 3rd, 2020
The amount of Social Security benefits a surviving spouse
receives depends, in part, on when their deceased spouse began claiming
benefits. However, husbands usually don’t take survivor’s benefits into account
when claiming benefits, according to a recent study, meaning that many widows
will needlessly experience a significant drop in income.
Because women typically live longer than men and men are often
the higher earners, most married women will be widowed and will have their
income drop below what they need to maintain their accustomed standard of
living. Spouses of a worker who has died are entitled to the
worker's full retirement benefits once they reach their full retirement age. If
the worker delayed retirement, the survivor's benefit will be
higher. Husbands have the option of increasing their surviving spouse’s
income by delaying Social Security benefits, but according to a
The study looked at whether greater awareness of Social Security
Survivor’s benefits would affect claiming decisions. The study found that
husbands tend to take more immediate concerns into consideration, such as their
health and whether they have another pension, rather than their wives’
Survivor’s Benefits. Giving the husbands information about how they could
improve their wives’ financial well-being by claiming benefits later did not
change their claiming decisions.
The study concludes that in order to protect widows, the
government should consider providing Survivor’s Benefits in a way that doesn’t
tie the surviving spouse’s benefits to the decision of when to claim benefits.
As things stands now, however, if you are the higher earner and are nearing
retirement, you may want to take into account how your decision on when to
claim benefits will affect your spouse if he or she survives you.
To read the study, click here.
For more information about Social Security benefits for
spouses, click here.
Last Modified: 09/03/2020
Last Modified: 09/03/2020
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