Social Security benefits are complex and confusing. If you are widowed and planning for retirement, there are different factors and strategies that can affect the amount of your benefit and when to claim it.

Types of Benefits

These Social Security benefits are potentially available to widow(er)s, but not at the same time, and they are calculated differently:

Retirement Benefits. You can receive monthly retirement benefits if you’ve worked and paid Social Security taxes for 10 years or more. This benefit is based entirely on your work record. Benefits can be claimed starting at age 62 and reach their maximum if you delay claiming them until age 70. Full retirement age (FRA) is considered to be age 66 or 67, depending on when you were born.

Survivor Benefits. As a surviving spouse, you can receive monthly survivor benefits if your spouse worked and paid Social Security taxes for 10 years or more. This benefit is based entirely on your spouse’s work record. Benefits can be claimed starting at age 60 and reach their maximum if you delay claiming them until age 66 or 67, your full retirement age for survivor benefits (not always the same as your full retirement age for retirement benefits). If you claim them at age 60, you will receive 71.5% of your spouse’s benefit, meaning the retirement benefits s/he would’ve been entitled to receive. (I don’t describe benefits for caretakers and children in this blog post, but you can read more about them in a blog post I wrote earlier this year.)

Claiming Strategies

You can’t collect more than one type of Social Security benefit at the same time, but you can claim one type and then later switch to another. For example, you could claim survivor benefits at age 60 and then switch to your own retirement benefits at age 70, when they would be at their maximum. This is likely what I will do.

Generally, you want to first determine which of your benefits has the maximum monthly benefit, which you can find out from calling the Social Security Administration. The smaller of the two benefits is the one you should claim first, allowing the other benefit to grow until it reaches its maximum. Then switch to the larger benefit.

Employment

If you are still working when you claim benefits, the Social Security earnings test may temporarily reduce or eliminate your benefits, depending on your age:

Age	Annual Earnings Limit	Benefit Reduction
Under Full Retirement Age (FRA)	$23,400	For every $2 earned over the limit, benefits are reduced by $1
In the year reaching FRA	$62,160	For every $3 earned over the limit, benefits are reduced by $1
At or above FRA	None	None

For some people, it may make sense to wait until full retirement age before claiming Social Security or else dropping to part-time employment to avoid the earnings test and maximize benefits.

Remarriage

If you remarry before the age of 60, you forfeit your right to claim survivor benefits, but you can claim spousal benefits based on your new spouse’s work record if s/he worked and paid Social Security taxes for 10 years or more. If you remarry after the age of 60, you have the option of claiming spousal, survivor or retirement benefits, but not at the same time.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in Social Security benefits or taxes and am merely passing along information based on my understanding of them. Your best bet is to call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 to find out about potential benefit amounts.