The value of Social Security to retirees makes it seem like most Americans know how much money they will get from it when they retire, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
New study from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NRIS) shows that only 11% of Americans who aren’t retired are sure of how much money they will get in benefits. In addition, 24% say they are “not very sure” how much money they will get in benefits, and 22% say they have no idea.
This lack of information is bad for the people who will benefit in the future; they should be more worried with planning their finances for retirement. Being proactive could help make life better for people who are on a fixed income.
How to get your Social Security benefit estimate
While NIRS’s study was being shown on Tuesday, Tyler Bond, the company’s research director, talked about how easy the process was. Workers can log in to their own account on the Social Security Administration website to get an idea of how much money they will get in benefits in the future. A lot of workers don’t seem to have done that, and they don’t seem to know what they will get from Social Security.
Anyone working and at least 18 years old can make an account on “My Social Security” to check their records. People aged 60 and up who don’t have an online account can ask for a paper statement to be mailed to them.
What your Social Security statements will be show
Joe Elsasser, a certified financial planner and president of Covisum, a software company that helps people claim Social Security, says that the statements will help people between the ages of 62 (the earliest you can retire and start getting benefits) and 70 (the latest you can delay) figure out how the annual cost-of-living adjustments will affect their monthly benefit checks.
As Elasser also says, this information would be useful for everyone, but this group of people would gain the most from checking it out. “What kind of standard of living would Social Security give you if you keep working and get wages that are basically the same as inflation?” This is the best way to think about it. You can read that on your Social Security card.
But these statements are only accurate with the knowledge we have right now; they can’t tell you about changes in wages or the cost of living that would make things very different. Jim Blair, vice president of Premier Social Security Consulting and a former boss at Social Security, says, “It’s more accurate the closer someone is to age 62.”
How to make statements more accurate
Making sure that your earnings history is right and shows your wages correctly is the easiest way to do this. It is easier to fix mistakes right away than to wait until records are lost.
If something is wrong, all you have to do is bring the right W-2 form to a nearby Social Security Administration office. To make sure the information is correct, you can also use tax returns, pay stubs, pay slips, personal wage records, or other papers.
However, even if everything is right, you may end up getting less in benefits than planned because the Social Security Trusts may not have enough money. Payroll taxes should still cover some of the benefits that are supposed to be given, but it might not cover the whole amount if Congress doesn’t fix the program.
As Elasser points out, “it’s perfectly reasonable to think that younger people will lose benefits.” But it’s not a good idea to plan for it not to be there at all.
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