Do You Do An Annual Social Security Review? | brokeGIRLrich
The other day I got an email reminding me to do an annual review of my Social Security benefits. If you’ve logged into the government website before to check out any of your social security information, odds are good also get a similar email once a year.
Social Security can be a little confusing. It’s a government controlled system that provides money to people who make none. That can sound a lot like welfare, but in the United States, we use it as part of our retirement system.
According to the Huffington Post, 22% of married and 47% of unmarried elderly folks rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income.
That’s terrifying to me, especially since I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist who believes Social Security as it exists now won’t be the same when I retire – at best. However Forbes points out that while people worry about Social Security going bankrupt, that’s not possible, since it is constantly collecting income.
I think I aged pretty well – although I clearly still need to fix my hair at 65 as badly as I do this morning.
Either way, I’ve got a plan to be able to fund my retirement pretty much on my own. So to me, Social Security is like fun money. I’m going to keep striving to hit my retirement savings goals without taking it too much into account. Does retirement seem super far away and like all of this is irrelevant to you? Merrill Lynch has actually created a very creepy and fascinating computer program that ages you and lets you get a glimpse of yourself down the road. They think that this will inspire young folks like us (hey – 30 is still pretty far from retirement) to start saving. Personally, I find it super disturbing but sort of fun – so have a crack at it here if you’re struggling to wrap your mind around you as a retiree.
Honestly, the part that was fascinating to me were all the facts that pop up on the screen while the aging program is working. It’s worth doing just to read them.
Upon checking out the Social Security website for my annual review, I’ve found that I don’t have enough credits yet for it to reflect what I would make in retirement (apparently you need 40 and I have some vague number they refer to as more than 30). You earn up to four credits a year – each credit is awarded as you hit another $1,220, mazing out for the year at $4,880.
However, I do have enough credits to qualify for disability (yay? …fingers crossed that I never touch that) and that would be $865 a month. Assuming my retirement payout would be similar, that’s not a bad number – especially since it’s likely to adjust considerably for inflation before 2051.
Interestingly enough, I’ve also learned that my earnings record is jacked up and I have about 5 years of misreported pay that I need to straighten out – thanks, Holland America. It does make me nervous that every one of those years was years when I got tax refunds, but I guess I am going to have to delve into it and learn what the process is to fix that.
Surely it will be a fascinating and irate blog post on what not to do in a couple of weeks – generally that’s what all my dealings with the government and my money turn into.
Anyway, the point of this whole post is to let you American readers know that you can log onto the Official Social Security website and check out your lifetime earnings, estimate your Social Security benefits for retirement and check out some of their other free retirement planning tools.
I just assume in my savings goals the social security won’t exist and that, regardless of whether or not Medicare exists that I’ll need supplemental insurance.
Taylor Lee @ Engineer Cents recently posted…April 2015 – Monthly Spending Update
Agreed – I do the same thing.
You are killing me with your giving up on social security. Please don’t fall for the myth that it won’t be there for you. Once most of a generation (Millennial) already thinks that way then it will be so easy for those who are in perpetual arousal to kill social security to actually be able to do it. Nothing happens in the US Government without money or votes. There is plenty of money behind ending social security so once there is no fear of the Millennial vote you will get hosed out of it.
That said, I am 56 and I do look at the numbers on my annual report but I didn’t when I was younger. There was one year that shows zero paid when I was just starting out in life that is an error. I worked for a bank and for a year they failed to take out my social security. They then realized their error and gave me loan to back pay it. Funny, they never paid their half or mine. Too many years went by, documents lost, people moved on, and I couldn’t prove it.
As to your having some over reported years, its to your benefit to leave it that way so I wouldn’t feel to badly if you find your efforts to correct it becoming a nightmarish failure. There are some non-salary type benefits that come into the figure too. I had an inflated year like that due to company paid moving reimbursement.
LeisureFreak Tommy recently posted…High Encore Career Success Rate
It’ll be there. We might have to be 80 to start collecting, but there will be something that resembles Social Security. Thanks for sharing the website.
Tre recently posted…Monthly Update – April 2015
I had no idea I could log in and check it. Thanks!!
Chela @SmashOdyssey recently posted…New Tools and April Update
I certainly hope Social Security will be there when we need it, but I’m not planning on it. I think a lot of people of the Silent and Baby Boomer Gens are happy relying on it (either entirely or in part), but I do think it will be different or with reduced benefits for us. After all, I’ve watched how pensions in my industry have changed dramatically. Now, when I retire (if I stay with my org for a long time, which I doubt I will), I won’t get half as much as the Baby Boomers do right now. Whether or not that’s “fair” is another debate, but at least it’s giving me a long time to prepare to fully fund my own retirement!
Melissa @ Sunburnt Saver recently posted…Review of The One-Page Financial Plan
Yeah, I think we’re definitely a much more jaded generation as well. We may wind up super well off as the government figures out how to correct for any of these short falls – OR they just never occur in the first place. But I’d rather be safe than sorry.
I dint know if it’s just teachers in Nevada, but when we retire, we do not get social security benefits.
Because of the pensions? I’ve heard about some occupations not receiving social security, but I thought that was balanced somehow with government pensions?
I’ve never really thought about even checking on my social security status. Great advise to make sure I’m factoring it in correctly!
Tyler M Jones recently posted…Not All Funds are Created Equal: How to Evaluate the Investment Options in your Retirement Savings Plan