How a 'Start-Stop-Start' Strategy Can Maximize Your Social Security Benefits

By Larry Kotlikoff


Start-Stop-Start is a term I've coined for starting your benefits prior to full retirement age, stopping them at full retirement age (this is done by filing a request with Social Security to suspend your benefits) and starting them up again at age 70 when they will be 32 percent larger due to the delayed retirement credit.

Following this strategy may make sense for married couples in which one spouse has reached full retirement age without having applied for his/her retirement benefit.

Let's call the younger spouse Sue and the older spouse Alex. And let's assume that Alex has just turned 66, which is his full retirement age. If Sue is 62 or older, she can let Alex collect "free" spousal benefits on her work history. But to do this, she has to apply for her retirement benefit early.

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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/03/a-key-social-security-strategy-1.html