Spousal Social Security Benefits Explained 

You have the listen to the wording very carefully. You are correct that you don't get both. You would receive your benefit plus a spousal benefit that gets you up to half of the spouses benefit. Not your benefit plus the full half of the spouses benefit. The detail is up to half, not plus half.

@randyjohnson2794 Yes, I intentionally left out the detail of the "secondary" spouse getting, as a choice, UP TO half, depending on age. That was to simplify my comment, in which I wanted to focus on the primary problem with this video.

@@taloweryus I had the same question...it seemed as though (in the example) the non-breadwinner could claim both their own benefit and the spousal benefit without a cap. But @randyjohnson's comments help explain the apparent discrepancy.

Good question. Based on what I've read on the SSA website, a beneficiary (your wife, in this example) is eligible for up to half of what their spouse would receive at full retirement age (also called the primary insurance amount, or PIA). Not bad.

But if I take SS at 62, does she then only get half of that amount ? This is where I keep gettting different answers, even from SSA.

@@therehastobesomethingmoore Again, I'm not an expert, but from what I have read ... the amount your wife will receive has nothing to do with when you decide to start taking benefits. All that's required from you is that you have started to take benefits, which you did at age 62. It has everything to do with when she starts taking benefits. Whenever she takes it, the spousal benefit WILL BE BASED ON YOUR FRA (age 67) AMOUNT. Her SS benefit is comprised of two pieces: her primary benefit (which is from her years of working) and the spousal piece. If she decides to take benefits at 62, there is a "double whammy". First her primary benefit would be reduced and second HER SPOUSAL BENEFIT WILL BE REDUCED. For example, if she takes SS at age 62, the spousal benefit could be as little as 32.5% (not 50%). The percentage grows as she gets closer to FRA, and maxes out at 50% of your PIA. Here's an example right from the government website. Sandy qualifies for a retirement benefit of $1000 and a spouses benefit of $1250 (my note: She qualifies for $1250 because her husband's FRA benefit is $2500). At her FRA, she will receive her own $1000 benefit and SSA will add $250 from her spouses' benefit, for a total of $1250. The rest is from my understand: Let's say Sandy decides to start collecting at 62. First, her $1000 benefit will be reduced significantly, by 30%. So she will get $700, instead of the $1000 she would have received by waiting to FRA. The spousal portion was $250 if she had waited till FRA. By taking it at age 62, the spousal amount is decreased even more significantly. She would only get 32.5% (not 50%). It gets a little tricky here, because you need to consider that the 50% represents 100% of the most she could get and so the 32.5% is also doubled to be 65%. And therefore, she gets 65% of the $250 as spousal benefit, which is $162.50. Her total benefit, if taken at age 62, is thus $700+$162.50 = $862.50.