I am 69 ( April 29, 1947) and have been claimed Social Security at age 62 ( April 2009). My wife is 63 ( December 9, 1952). We hope to wait until she is age 70 ( December 2022) to claim her Social security benefits. My wife is the higher earning spouse.We believe she is eligible to claim a Spousal Benefit (50% of mine) when she reaches her Full Retirement Age ( December 2018). We believe she can claim a lower Spousal Benefit before age 66 if she makes that claim now. While the lower amount of the early spousal benefit can result is overall more total Social Security benefits ( 6.5 years of 80% Spousal benefits versus 4 years of full spousal benefits) , we are concerned that claiming a lower spousal benefit amount now could adversely affect( subtract from) her own benefits later ( age 70). Is this true ans what are the adverse effects.

I believe i am a current subscriber with a purchase late last year. Thank you.

James,
If your wife files for her spouse's benefit before her full retirement age (FRA) of 66, then she will be deemed by law to have filed for both her retirement and spouse's benefit at that time. This means that she could not delay her retirement benefit until age 70. So yes, filing for an early spouse's benefit does adversely affect her retirement benefit. However, she can file a restricted application for spouse's benefits only at her FRA and delay her retirement benefit until age 70.
Since you are a customer of MaximizeMySocialSecurity, what does it show as you maximized strategy? You can input the early spouse's benefit as the "What-If" scenario to compare it to the maximized strategy.
Also, in the future, please use our customer contact form to get support regarding how to use Maximize My Social Security or to ask questions related to your specific case.
Best,
Mike