Ask the Expert: Plan can't start until you're 66

I want to apply for my ex-spouse's Social Security benefit at age 62. Can I do that and later collect the full amount of my own benefit at 66? Also, if I keep working, will I forfeit some benefit if I earn too much?

The rules you're asking about are the same for all married people and for the divorced people who qualify for spousal benefits. This answer applies to both groups.

You can't carry out your plan until you're 66. That's full retirement age for everyone born between 1943 and 1954. If you're younger when you apply for a benefit based on a spouse's or an ex-spouse's record, you must file for your own benefit at the same time. The upshot: You'll receive the larger of the two amounts. If your own benefit at that time is $1,000 and your spousal benefit is $400, for example, you'll get $1,000.

Both benefits will be smaller than if you'd waited until 66 - and the reduction is permanent. At 62, your spousal (or ex-spousal) benefit is 35 percent of the amount your husband or wife is entitled to receive, instead of 50 percent. And at 62, your own benefit is 75 percent of the amount you'd get at 66. Finally, if you work while collecting Social Security before age 66, you may forfeit benefits depending on how much you earn. At 62, you forfeit $1 of benefit for each $2 you earn above $14,160 in 2010. All these drawbacks disappear if you wait until you're 66: You can then receive a spousal benefit while postponing your own, and you won't forfeit any benefits, regardless of your salary.

The bottom line You must be at least 66 to take maximum advantage of all your potential Social Security benefits.

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