Americans have the ability to request their Social Security statement. This is an important piece of the retirement puzzle to be checking because you want to make sure your future benefits are actually reflecting what you have earned over your working life.1
The Social Security Administration (SSA) made the shift from mailing people their statements to electronically delivering people their statements – something that many aren’t thrilled about. According to a report by the SSA inspector general, only about half of the 39 million people who are signed up to receive electronic Social Security statements have actually checked their earnings report.2 These findings suggest that people are not inclined to check their Social Security statement because it is no longer being mailed to them periodically, as it was in previous years.
Today, your Social Security statement can be obtained through the Social Security Administration website, all you need to do is create a mySocial Security account. Checking your Social Security statement can greatly help you assess how much money you are going to need during retirement, and it’s important to stay informed about your financial situation – even if your retirement is years away.
Your Social Security statement contains the following3:
- Your retirement benefit at your full retirement age of 67 (generally)
- Retirement benefits if you delay collecting until age 70 (highest benefit you can receive)
- Retirement benefits if you begin taking benefits at age 62 (the earliest you are eligible for retirement benefits)
- Your disability insurance benefit (if needed)
- Survivor benefits for your family (if applicable)
- Along with other useful information such as your earnings record from the time you first began working and the amount of Medicare and Social Security taxes you’ve paid since the start of your working career
Sources
1 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/your-money/checking-social-security-statements.html
2 https://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-03-18-50724.pdf
