Dear Liz: I am a retired special education teacher who receives a government pension. The recent law change now permits me to also receive Social Security. I have 38 of the 40 credits required in order to qualify. Am I better off getting a job to earn those two credits? Another teacher explained to me that I can be paid 50% of my husband’s Social Security benefit instead. That would likely be greater than my own Social Security benefit. We would both wait until we are 70 to collect Social Security.
Answer: The Social Security Fairness Act did away with the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset, two rules that reduced Social Security benefits for people receiving pensions from jobs that didn’t pay into Social Security.
As you’ve noted, to qualify for your own benefit you would need 40 quarterly credits or 10 years of work history at jobs that paid into Social Security. If your credits were earned decades ago at low-paying jobs, then your spousal benefit might well be larger than your own retirement benefit.
Your spousal benefit can be up to 50% of your husband’s benefit at his full retirement age. Spousal benefits are reduced if you start before your own full retirement age, which is presumably 67, but won’t be increased if you wait beyond that age. Your husband must be receiving his own benefit before you can get a spousal benefit.
The rules can be complex so you’ll want to educate yourself thoroughly and consider consulting a financial planner to figure out the best claiming strategy.
My wife, who first began receiving SS benefits in 2018, has already received her retroactive payment resulting from the Social Security Fairness Act. Her monthly stipend should be adjusted this month. From what we can tell, the retroactive payment only reflected the termination of the WEP. Must she apply for a spousal benefit (for which she was previously ineligible due to the GPO), or will SS automatically make that adjustment also?
As you may know, people are eligible to receive either their own benefit or a spousal benefit, but not both. It’s likely she’s already receiving the larger of the two benefits. If you think half of your benefit at full retirement age is greater than what she’s receiving now, though, it’s worth calling Social Security.
Liz! I thought you retired?!! What brought you back?!
Hi, Tony! I only semi-retired. Still writing these columns and doing a few other gigs