It would seem reasonable that most Americans are aware of the benefits they would be entitled to in the event of their retirement given the significance of Social Security in their lives, but this does not appear to be the case.
According to recent data from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NRIS), only 11% of Americans who are not yet retired claim they are certain of their exact benefit amount. Furthermore, 22% of respondents claim they have no idea how much they would be eligible to receive, and 24% are “not very sure” about their benefit levels.
Future beneficiaries, who need to be more focused on retirement financial planning, will suffer from this lack of knowledge. Once on a fixed income, being proactive could assist enhance the quality of life.
How to get your Social Security estimate?
NIRS research director Tyler Bond describes the simple procedure during a presentation of the company’s research on Tuesday. Employees can get an estimate of their future benefit amounts by visiting the Social Security Administration website and logging in to their account. The majority of workers don’t appear to have done that and therefore don’t appear to have a clear idea of what their own Social Security benefits will be.
If an employee is 18 years of age or older, they can create a “My Social Security” account to view their data. If they are 60 years of age or older and do not have an online account, they can request a print statement, which will be mailed to them.
Social Security statements
“The statements will be especially helpful to people between the ages of 62, the earliest you can retire and claim benefits, and 70, the latest you can delay, to see how the annual cost-of-living adjustments would affect monthly benefit checks,” said Joe Elsasser, a certified financial planner and president of Covisum, a Social Security claiming software company.
Although Elasser also contends that everyone would gain from having this information, this particular group of people would particularly profit from verifying The easiest way to look at it is to consider what kind of standard of living Social Security would offer if you kept working and essentially received inflation-adjusted pay. The Social Security statement informs you of this.
However, these claims are limited to the data that is now available; they are unable to forecast changes in earnings or the cost of living that would significantly alter the situation. “The closer someone is to age 62, the more accurate it is,” says Jim Blair, a former Social Security administrator and vice president of Premier Social Security Consulting.
How do we make the statements accurate?
The simplest method to accomplish this is to make sure that your earnings history is accurate and matches your income history. It is always simpler to correct errors when they occur rather than after enough time has elapsed for records to be lost.
Simply bringing the accurate W-2 form to the Social Security Administration office in your area will fix any errors. The information can also be confirmed using tax returns, pay stubs, pay slips, personal wage records, and other documents. However, because of the possible shortage in the Social Security Trusts, you might receive less in payments than you anticipated, even if all of your records are accurate. A percentage of the theoretically allotted benefits should still be supported by payroll taxes, albeit this may not be the entire amount based on whether Congress supports the program.
As Elasser cautions, “It’s reasonable to expect a benefit cut for younger people. But to plan for it not to be there at all is a poor assumption.”
