Here’s something interesting I just learned from the Social Security Administration’s website: There are 70 women aged 25 or younger in this country who are earning Social Security benefits as the spouses of retired workers. To qualify, they must be married to men 62 or older and have children 16 or younger, or older children who receive disability benefits. These women are not a major burden on the system’s finances (70 recipients X $419.60 average monthly benefit = $352,464 a year) but, uh, kinda weird, no?
Meanwhile, the youngest male recipients of such benefits are 53 (there are 3 of them; average monthly benefit, $302).