What is the Social Security Spousal Benefit? - 77

What is the Social Security spousal benefit? Joe and Big Al explain in episode 77 of the YMYW podcast. Plus, how leveraging your home equity in a reverse mortgage can help you generate retirement income. Original publish date October 29, 2016 (hour 1). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed.

00:00 - Intro

02:57 - “If you’re married you have a spousal benefit, or if you were married and divorced and were married to that individual for ten years, you could potentially qualify for that spousal benefit on your ex-spouse as long as you haven’t re-married.”

05:23 - “If I take the spousal benefit prior to my full retirement age, I would receive a reduction in that benefit. You can take Social Security benefits as early as 62.”

08:17 - “When you look at a restricted application, that goes hand in hand with your spousal benefit.”

14:19 - “A lot of us are living longer and you’ve got to think of Social Security as maybe longevity insurance.”

17:23 - “The difference between [taking your Social Security] at age 62 versus age 70 is a 76% increase.”

23:03 - “[Hillary Clinton] wants to keep the tax brackets that we have right now as is except she wants to add a surtax if your adjusted gross income is over $5 million.”

25:31 - “Trump would actually like to reduce our taxes; he wants to take it to three brackets – 12%, 25% and 33%. Right now our lowest bracket is 10% and our highest is 39.6%.”

35:57 - “Costs of buying and selling a home only to do it again during retirement might cost you more money.”