As early as age 62, spouses can collect either on their own career benefits, or take 50 percent of their spouses’ benefits, whichever is greater. The non-working spouse can begin to collect on the other’s record only if the working spouse has already begun receiving social security spousal benefits, a small but very important point. If the non-working spouse is taking care of a child under the age of 16 or who is disabled, then those benefits can begin before the earliest retirement age of 62 under other circumstances. (more…)

As I said earlier, the amount you receive from Social Security varies based on how much you put into the system and when you start taking social security benefits. You have limited control over what you put into the system because it’s dictated by the FICA taxes that serve to allocate a portion of your earnings into the system. You do, however, have control over when you and your spouse take money retirement from the system. (more…)