Social Security Claiming: When There's a Big Difference in Life Expectancies

A slightly better outcome is achieved if Leslie chooses to wait until her full retirement age of 67 and claim her benefit in November 2035, boosting the projected benefit total by about $10,000, to $974,854. Another $4,000 is added to the projection when Leslie acts the same but Mike waits for his full retirement age in November 2024, garnering a monthly benefit of $2,023 and resulting in a projected total of $980,049.

Another marginally improved approach would see Mike file for his full worker benefits of $2,023 in November 2024, while Leslie files at age 62 in December 2030. She would then eventually switch to her survivor benefit, resulting in a total projected benefit of $988,414. Similarly sized benefit projection increases come from assuming that Leslie waits to age 70 while Mike claims at either 65 or 66.

A bigger jump in benefits comes from assuming that Mike waits until March 2028 to file for his maximum worker benefits of $2,562. If Leslie also waits for the maximum claiming age and draws her benefit in November 2038, the projection jumps to $1.03 million.

An even better idea, according to the authors, is for Mike to file in March 2028 for his max worker benefits ($2,562) while Leslie files at age 67 in December 2035 for her full benefit of $2,198. Leslie would then eventually switch to collecting a larger survivor benefit of $2,562, resulting in a total projected benefit of $1.053 million.

The optimal approach, however, sees Mike file at age 70 in March 2028 for his maximum worker benefit, while Leslie files for her worker benefit ($1,547) at age 62 in December 2030. She then would switch to her survivor benefit of $2,562, garnering a total projected benefit of $1.09 million.

Credit: Chris Nichols/ALM