--- title: Social Security is a Woman's Issue | TIME description: Here are a few reasons why women need to understand their social security benefits. canonical: https://time.com/video/64kAlTEM/ og:title: Social Security is a Woman's Issue og:description: Here are a few reasons why women need to understand their social security benefits. og:url: https://time.com/video/64kAlTEM/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/64kAlTEM/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Social Security is a Woman's Issue twitter:description: Here are a few reasons why women need to understand their social security benefits. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/64kAlTEM/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Social Security is a Woman's Issue > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Social Security is a Woman's Issue [Watch (HLS stream): Social Security is a Woman's Issue](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/64kAlTEM.m3u8) (2:12)  _Published 2016-04-18. Here are a few reasons why women need to understand their social security benefits._ --- Jul 27, 2023 7:57 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Will Social Security Be There for Me?](/video/D7u6xtpa/) ### Will Social Security Be There for Me? [Social Security: Why It's A Women's Issue](/video/hURJLidR/) ### Social Security: Why It's A Women's Issue [Will Social Security Be There For Me?](/video/0yVAkmiH/) ### Will Social Security Be There For Me? --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Why is it that Social Security is such a big deal for women? Well for several reasons Larry. The first reason is, women live longer than men. On average a 65 year old woman would have more than 21 years remaining life. And a 65 year old man would have something like 19 years. Not only do they live longer, which means their money has to last longer, but their earnings are substantially less than a man's. So that means that their basic retirement benefit based on their own work record is lower than that of the husband. The good thing, though, is that when the husband dies, which he'll typically do before the wife, The wife will be able to inherit his check as a widow's benefit . >> Right. She has to be careful because it'll be reduced if she takes it early. She can take it as early as 60 . >> Or 50 if she's disabled . >> That's correct, but if she waits until 66, she'll get the full amount of her. widow's benefit. That's the full retirement age right now. The flip side of that argument though is that while she gets her husband's benefit because so many men file for their retirement early their benefits are way lower than they would be if they waited until age 70. That can't be emphasized enough. The widow's going to collect the check that husband Was receiving. And if the husband takes his retirement benefit early, that check is gonna be so much lower than if he takes it at 70. Sure. So anybody who really cares about his wife should be trying desperately to wail until 70 to take his retirement benefit. Not just to get his own retirement benefit higher, which is very important, but to make sure that his wife has this extra insurance if he's the higher earner. Well, and we know that a lot of people can't afford to wait to claim benefits, but it's also true that some people just don't stop and think about it. We know that about 42 % of men are taking their retirement benefits the first minute they can get it, which you know, some of them have absolutely no other option in terms of no other income but But men and women should try and work as long as possible. I'm Phil Moeller. I'm Larry Kotlikoff and we're here to help you get the most from your social security. 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