If I retire before my FRA will that affect my wife’s spousal benefit derived from my social security.

Hi. Claiming your benefits early won't adversely affect your wife's spousal benefit rate, but it would limit her potential survivor benefit rate to the higher of your reduced rate or 82.5% of your primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

The only adverse effect that your retiring early could have on your wife's spousal rate while you're living might result from you stopping or reducing your work and earnings. Your PIA is based on an average of your highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, so if you stop working early then you won't be increasing your PIA with higher years of earnings. And, since your wife's unreduced spousal rate would be calculated based on 50% of your PIA, a lower PIA results in a lower spousal rate.

You and your wife may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your options so that you can determine the best overall strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry