10 Biggest Retirement Mistakes: #5. Not Coordinating Benefits With Your Spouse

For most married couples, the main goal should be to 
maximize Social Security benefits for the surviving spouse, who is likely to be the wife.

That means the main breadwinner, typically the husband, should delay collecting Social Security retirement benefits until age 70 when they will be worth the most and will pass to the wife as a survivor benefit if he dies first.