Most married couples spend more time debating when to retire than they do thinking about how to claim Social Security, and that might be an expensive oversight.
Social Security isn’t a single button you press when you’re ready to stop working, for couples, it’s a system with real strategic options and the difference between a thoughtful approach and a default one can add up to tens of thousands of dollars over your lifetime. Two strategies in particular are worth every couple’s attention: the spousal benefit and delayed claiming. Used together, they can meaningfully change what you collect, and what your spouse collects if you pass away first.
The Spousal Benefit
If you’re married, you don’t have to rely solely on your own work record to collect Social Security. The spousal benefit allows the lower-earning spouse to claim up to 50% of the higher earner’s full retirement benefit and for many couples, that number is significantly larger than what the lower earner would receive on their own.
Once the higher-earning spouse files for Social Security, the lower earner can claim either their own benefit or the spousal benefit, whichever is greater. Social Security will automatically pay the higher of the two, but only if you’ve actually filed. It doesn’t happen by default, and many couples simply don’t know to look. To qualify, you need to be at least 62 years old and currently married. The full 50% spousal benefit is available at your full retirement age and if you claim it early, the amount is reduced. Divorced spouses may also qualify if the marriage lasted at least 10 years, which surprises many people.
One important note: the spousal benefit is based on your partner’s full retirement benefit, not on whatever they’re actually collecting. So even if your spouse delayed claiming to boost their own payout, your spousal benefit is calculated from the baseline, not the inflated amount.
Delayed Claiming
Every year you wait to claim Social Security past your full retirement age, your benefit grows by roughly 8%. That clock runs from your full retirement age all the way to age 70, when the growth stops. That means waiting the full window can increase your monthly benefit by as much as 24-32% compared to claiming at full retirement age.
For most couples, the higher earner is the one who should delay. The reason goes beyond just a bigger monthly check. When one spouse passes away, the surviving spouse stops receiving two benefits and keeps only the larger of the two, which means the higher earner’s benefit effectively becomes a life insurance policy for the lower earner. The bigger it is, the more financial security the survivor has, potentially for decades. This is the part most couples don’t think through. A wife who outlives her husband by 15 years, for example, will collect his benefit for all of those years. If he claimed at 62 instead of waiting until 70, the difference in her monthly income could be substantial, and there’s no way to go back and undo that decision. The lower-earning spouse, meanwhile, can often claim earlier to bring some income into the household while the higher earner waits. This “split strategy” lets the couple manage cash flow in the short term without sacrificing the long-term upside.
How These Two Strategies Work Together
On their own, each of these strategies has real value. But the reason financial planners often call this a “couples strategy” is that they’re most powerful when coordinated. Here’s what that looks like in practice: the lower-earning spouse claims their spousal benefit once the higher earner has filed, locking in up to 50% of the higher earner’s full retirement benefit. Meanwhile, the higher earner delays their own claim until 70, letting that benefit grow as long as possible. The household brings in income from the spousal benefit in the meantime, and the higher earner’s benefit, the one that will eventually become the survivor benefit, reaches its maximum value.
The result is a retirement income plan that covers the present and protects the future. It’s not complicated, but it does require both spouses to think through the decision together rather than each claiming independently without a plan. Social Security gives married couples more control than most people realize, but only if you use it intentionally. Think through the timing together, consider the survivor benefit implications, and don’t let the default decision cost you money you were always entitled to collect.
