Update: Social Security at FRA vs. 70 When Spouse Gets Spousal Benefit

Full analysis

What's new since we last covered this: Spousal benefit tradeoff analysis with FRA vs. 70 claiming strategy.

A listener nearing retirement asked whether the standard advice to have the higher-earning spouse wait until age 70 to claim Social Security still holds when claiming three years earlier at Full Retirement Age (FRA) would immediately trigger an $800-per-month spousal benefit increase for his wife. Chris Stein frames the tradeoff clearly: yes, claiming at FRA yields three years of additional household income from the spousal benefit — but if the higher-earning spouse dies first and the survivor lives on for five, ten, or fifteen years, the reduced survivor benefit from claiming at FRA rather than 70 can cost far more over time than the three-year gain.

The hosts note the calculus shifts for couples who are near-"unicorns" — a term they use for households whose guaranteed lifetime income (pensions, annuities, Social Security) already covers both essential expenses and most discretionary spending. For those people, the Social Security claiming decision is lower-stakes and can reasonably be driven by other preferences. For everyone else, the survivorship scenario — one spouse living alone for years after the other dies — should be central to the decision, since the higher benefit claimed at 70 becomes the sole survivor's income.