Who we serve
When spouses are several years apart, income sources switch on at staggered dates, health coverage begins at different times, and the survivor period is longer. Two couples with identical savings and identical spending get materially different plans if one couple is the same age and the other is five years apart.
What this complicates
Because the survivor keeps the larger benefit, delaying the higher earner's claim raises income not just for them but for whichever spouse lives longer. With an age gap that survivor period is usually long, which strengthens the case for waiting.
One Social Security check stops, a pension may reduce or end depending on the survivor election, and the tax filing status changes from married to single — often raising the rate on the same income. Planning for that step down in advance is most of the work.
If the older spouse retires at 65 and the younger is 60, that is five years of individual health coverage priced against your taxable income — which means the withdrawal plan and the insurance plan are the same decision.
Why us
This is why most plans cannot come off the shelf. You can see it in the Next Phase Plan: switch the spouse to five years younger and watch the second segment grow.
If you are nearby, you can come in and sit down with us. If you are not, we meet by phone or video call. Either way, when something changes, you reach someone who knows you.
Questions
It usually strengthens the case for the higher earner delaying, because the survivor keeps the larger benefit and the survivor period is longer. The lower earner can often claim earlier to help fund the gap years without reducing what the household keeps long term.
The household keeps the larger of the two Social Security benefits, not both. A pension continues only if a survivor option was elected. And the survivor files as single, which can mean a higher rate on similar income. Household income typically falls more than people expect.
Through a spouse's employer plan, COBRA for a limited period, or the marketplace. Marketplace costs are tied to taxable income, so which accounts you draw from in those years directly changes the premium.
Against the younger spouse's horizon, with a margin. Planning to the average of two ages systematically underestimates how long the money has to work.
Related
This is the window where the decisions are still reversible and the numbers are finally real.
This is the case the Next Phase Plan was built for — where every dollar of income beyond Social Security has to come from what you saved.
Pension income for life is rare now, and it changes what your portfolio has to do. It also comes with elections you make only once.
Thirty minutes to see where your income will come from. If we are not the right fit, we will tell you.
