There are several types of Social Security benefits. Those benefits are:
- Worker
- Spousal
- Ex-spousal
- Children
- Survivor/Widow (er)
- Disability
- Medicare
Social Security representatives are trained to provide you the highest benefit today. They are not trained to provide guidance on maximizing your lifetime benefits. It is important to note that when one spouse files, it may have a direct impact on the amount the other spouse will receive.
It is imperative that married couples coordinate their lifetime benefits. They need to think in terms of joint life expectancy.
In order to maximize Social Security benefits you need to accomplish 3 goals:
- Maximize benefits for the higher earner
- Coordinate benefits between the spouses
- Maximize benefits for the surviving spouse
I will go into more detail about the specific benefits in future blogs. Deciding how to coordinate Social Security benefits could be the biggest retirement decision you have to make. Let me guide you down that path. Contact me today!