Social Security is a complicated program because it allows retirees lots of choices as to when they can start their benefits for the first time. Unfortunately, it can become even more complex for married couples, as they generally must make decisions together if they want to maximize their combined household income. Married couples also have many more options for how to structure a Social Security benefits claim.
For many married couples, finding the best Social Security strategy can make a big difference in building financial security in retirement. Unfortunately, many couples continue to make claiming mistakes into 2026 that can end up costing them both.
Here are three big mistakes that many husbands and wives still make when it comes to retirement benefit claims in 2026.
1. Not coordinating with each other to make a benefits claim
When you are married, you must talk with your spouse to decide on a plan together to maximize your lifetime income. That’s because the decisions one spouse makes can affect the other. For example:
- If a higher-earning spouse waits to claim, this could result in a higher survivor benefit for the lower earner.
- On the flip side, though, it could also mean that the lower earner must wait longer to claim spousal benefits, which aren’t unlocked if the person whose work record they are based on hasn’t retired yet.
Couples should understand all of the implications of each person’s decision to start benefits so they can make a fully informed choice about what’s best for both of them.
2. Failing to plan for the death of a spouse
When one spouse dies, this can have a very profound impact on the financial situation of the person who has been left behind.
The big issue is that, in most cases, both spouses were receiving Social Security benefits, so two payments are coming into the household. The death of one spouse ends one of those payments entirely, leaving the widow or widower with one check when once there were two.
If both spouses had a similar amount of Social Security income, this can be a huge problem because the death effectively cuts the money coming into the household in half. Planning for this eventuality means saving plenty in a retirement account to ensure that the last surviving spouse doesn’t find themselves going broke.
If one spouse earns much more than the other, though, then it could make a lot of sense for the higher earner to delay their own benefit claim as long as possible. This will increase the larger of the two benefits. The widow or widower gets to keep that higher benefit, which can provide much-needed financial relief after a death.
3. Putting off spousal benefits for too long
Finally, the last mistake that couples make is delaying spousal benefits for longer than it makes sense to do so.
Spousal benefits cap out at 50% of the primary earner’s standard benefit. Spousal benefits don’t get bigger if you wait to claim them beyond full retirement age.
So, the lower-earner who is claiming spousal benefits generally has no reason to delay beyond their FRA to claim, unless they can’t get them yet because the higher earner hasn’t unlocked them by claiming their own retirement benefits.
One common strategy is for the lower-earning spouse to begin collecting their own retirement checks early while the higher earner delays claiming benefits to maximize both the larger retirement payment and potential future survivor benefits.
The lower earner’s Social Security payment provides some income for the household, and then when the spouse who made more finally does retire, they can switch over to their spousal benefits, and it likely won’t matter that the lower earner’s smaller retirement benefit was hit with early filing penalties.
As you can see, there is a lot to think about when it comes to these benefits, so married couples may want to think about working with a financial advisor to get help understanding their options.
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