Starting at age 62, spousal benefits are available to clients even if they never worked towards Social Security credits. If a client's spouse qualifies for Social Security, the spousal benefit can provide up to 50% of the spouse's Primary Insurance Amount, i.e. their Social Security benefit at full retirement age. Spousal benefits are subject to an early withdrawal penalty (5% to 8% per year), but not delay credits after full retirement age.
Within joint plans (plans that include both a client and co-client), RightCapital will automatically generate a spousal benefit when clients are eligible. Financial plans will include the greater of a client's retirement benefit or the spousal benefit in order to produce the best outcomes.
Spousal benefits can be viewed in the Retirement > Cash Flows > Summary tab. Click the underlined Income Inflows > Social Security column headers to reveal additional information, including any spousal benefits:
If you’d like to prevent RightCapital from automatically calculating spousal benefits, this can be done in the Profile > Income section. Within that client’s Social Security income card, set the Estimated benefit amount to “No Social Security”. This will turn off all social security benefits for that client, including retirement, spousal, and survivor:
