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A reader from Ohio looks for clarity on their Social Security benefits since they are already collecting survivor benefits.
"I was widowed before turning 60 and began collecting a survivor benefit when I became eligible at 60. I re-married at age 62 and will continue to collect the survivor benefit until age 70. However, when I log onto the MySSA website, it does not show me my estimated benefit calculation. Instead, it has a paragraph that starts, "We are not giving you estimates because our records show that you are already receiving or have qualified for benefits." This one makes sense. However, it finishes with: "If you are getting benefits as the spouse or the widow or widower of someone else, we must look at both records to determine how much you are entitled to." I have two questions. Is there an alternate way to determine my benefits at age 67 and 70? And secondly, why would my spouse's record impact mine at all? (I was the larger wage earner by far.)"
Let's address the two pieces.
First, is there somewhere you can go to estimate your benefit when you turn on your own benefit, that is, when you switch from the survivor benefit to your own retirement benefit later on? This strategy is popular in a situation such as yours: you lose your spouse and become eligible for survivor benefits; you have your own healthy benefit that you'd like to maximize by waiting until age 70. Meanwhile, you can still collect what we call 'get paid while waiting' or 'get paid to wait' – which involves turning on the survivor benefit alone and then waiting until later to switch to your retirement benefit after it's had the extra time to grow. I understand what you're aiming to do; it sounds logical.
And you're right. Once you're collecting any Social Security benefit, if you log onto their website, you'll discover that they've stopped giving you benefits estimates for other benefits you might be eligible for in the future. They simply turn off that function. It's as if they're throwing up their arms, saying, "It's too complicated, so we don't want to say anything."
If you're looking at a two-step strategy like this, you will have to use some other resource. You can always contact Social Security. If you ask them the question point blank, they will give you the answer. But that's because they're using one of their own calculators. You do have the option of one of the many commercial, third-party calculators out there, but you can still go straight to Social Security and get a pretty good estimate these days.
The Social Security website has a few different calculators. There are two main ones: the "Quick Calculator," which you don't want to use, and the more detailed "Online Calculator." There's also something called the "Detailed Calculator," but that's a program you download, so you probably don't want to mess with that.
Go to the "Online Calculator," which you can find quickly on the Social Security website. That one's good because it allows you to put in your age today and the age when you'll start collecting your benefits, such as age 67 or 70. You're going to need your entire earnings record. Where can you get it? Well, you can get that in your Social Security account. Even though they won't give you a benefit estimate, they will let you download your earnings record.
Once you have that record in front of you, the Online Calculator gives you boxes to enter each year of your actual earnings. Why do you have to do that? Because this form is generic. It's not connected to your Social Security account, where it could pull that information automatically. Once all the information is entered into the Online Calculator, click "Calculate benefit," and it'll give you your benefit estimate. It's similar to what you would have been provided had you not been receiving another Social Security benefit and had they been willing to give it to you linked to your account.
The calculator is free, as it's on the Social Security website. I think it has the features and variables you'll need to do what you want: to find out the estimated amount you receive at ages 67 and 70.
Now, as for your second question – regarding the disclaimer – all of the wording on the Social Security website and the Social Security Statements that you get is generic or a catchall. I've never seen disclaimers or notes on any Social Security document or online that were customized to you. They're generic warnings: "Hey, things might be slightly different." For example, they warn everybody about the Windfall Elimination Provision and don't try to tailor it just to the people who might be affected by it.
The mention that your benefit might be affected by your deceased spouse's record is just a generic statement: "Hey, by the way, we might need to know about both your record and your spouse's record to figure out what your true benefit is." Don't take that as "This is a personal message to me -- warning me about something unique about myself."
In addition, as the higher wage earner, your future benefit would be based on your record alone. That generic statement is likely to apply even less to you, but it might apply to others where that's not the case.