Likewise a husband might decide to suspend his benefits if he started taking them too early and then realized he wanted to increase the amount his wife would be entitled to for the rest of her life through higher survivor benefits. She will probably outlive the husband and, in many instances, having the husband delay his benefits can mean nearly $200,000 more in benefits for the widow.
Similarly, disability benefits can be suspended at full retirement age to let the amount grow each year until the person reaches 70.
“The fact is there is confusion for advisors around the term ‘suspend’,” Reichenstein says. “And many clients think the option went away when ‘file and suspend’ was eliminated, but those are two different claiming strategies.”
“A lot of people are still claiming benefits too early,” explains Meyer. “When clients make a bad decision, the advisor needs to be aware that there are ways to fix the problem. There is software, such as ours, that can run the numbers for the advisor quickly and determine the best option for the client.”