Mom Worries Daughter Is Making Bad Social Security Decision
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Dear Rusty: My question is not for me, but for my daughter who 62 years is old. She does not want to take her Social Security now. Her husband was a doctor and passed away recently. She had been married to him for more than 10 years and, in the meantime, he married someone else. I thought the President erased taxes on earned money so that people could collect what was due them no matter what they earned. My daughter keeps telling me she has already earned too much this year and cannot collect her widow's benefits until next year. I don't understand what no tax on Social Security means then. Also, she wants to wait until she is 67 before she collects her own money. She has been a nurse and believes her own benefits may be larger than her widow's benefits. Is she correct to wait for that long? Signed: Worried Mom
Rusty’s answer in brief
The daughter is probably right to wait. Claiming a widow’s benefit at 62 permanently reduces it by more than 20%, and while she works before her full retirement age of 67, the annual earnings test ($24,480 in 2026) withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 she earns above the limit, which could wipe out her benefits for the year.
The “no tax on Social Security” law is a separate matter: it adds an extra $6,000 deduction for people 65 and older through tax year 2028 and does not change the earnings test. At 67 she can compare her own retirement benefit with her widow’s benefit and claim the larger one.
This recording presents the viewpoints of the AMAC Foundation’s Social Security Advisory Staff, trained and accredited under the National Social Security Advisors program of the National Social Security Association, LLC (NSSA). NSSA and the AMAC Foundation are not affiliated with or endorsed by the United States Government, the Social Security Administration, or any other state government. To request additional information, contact our Advisory Staff at 888-750-2622, or email us at SSAdvisor@AmacFoundation.org.