Questions Seldom Asked

Questions Seldom Asked
chuckstock/Shutterstock
Tom Margenau
Updated:

Because I’ve been writing this column for about a quarter-century now, you probably can guess that there are questions I’ve been asked hundreds (if not thousands) of times during the past 25 years. And I don’t think there is a single Social Security-related question I’ve never been asked. But it dawned on me as I was answering my emails this week that there are questions I’m seldom asked, and I thought I would gather a few of them together and put them in today’s column.

Q: My wife, who stopped working a couple years ago, is approaching age 62 and wants to sign up for her Social Security then. But I’m 65 and still working and making $250,000 per year. We file a joint tax return. Will the fact that I make that much money (well above the Social Security earnings penalty limits) cause problems for my wife’s eligibility for Social Security?
Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]
Related Topics