Review your Social Security Information Before Retiring

Before you retire, you'll want to take a look at your social security statement to get a rough estimate of what your benefits will be. We were pretty surprised by our own report and a few errors that we found on it. It's a good thing we're not ready yet to claim benefits and had the time to make corrections. Wonder what your own social security statement has calculated for you?

Soar like an eagle to retirement

You can obtain this form from the Social Security Administration in the USA. Other countries may have something similar.  Currently, social security will replace on average forty percent of your annual earnings before retirement. That means that you'll also need other forms of income from your savings, 401 account, IRA or other investments. Social Security is complicated and you might want to read more with Social Security Simplified to know all you can before it's your turn to retirement, keep more of your money.


Here's what you can learn when you review your social security statement.
     - Estimated payment information based on the age at which you plan to retire. This information is useful so that you can determine if you'll have enough funds to retire early or if you should get the maximum benefits and retire at the full retirement age.

     - Yearly wages earned. This area is crucial to review since you might find some of your wages were not properly recorded and on my own, I found two full years that zero wages were recorded. This will impact that retirement benefit in a huge way and without reviewing my own social security statement, I'd have never known.

     - How much of a benefit your family will receive if you die and also your disability amount if you should ever become disabled and unable to continue working. 

     - Contact information for the social security administration so that you can correct your current address, include any missing information to your account so that all the wages are recorded and your top payment can be sent to you when it's time to receive benefits.

     - Your personal best options to consider before choosing a retirement age.
     - Reminder to sign up for Medicare three months before you turn age 65 to avoid a penalty, even if you won't be retiring at age 65.
     - Retiring early considerations and the reduction in benefits that will occur if you do.
     - Information for your surviving benefactors if you should die.
     - Helpful links for more information you could benefit from and learn more about social security. 

Once you contact the social security administration, you'll receive a yearly retirement statement that you can review against your current wages, check for any mistakes and contact them before you finally file to receive your benefits check.

It's worth the time now to make sure that this crucial form is correct since we'll all need every dollar towards a happy retirement.

Soar like an eagle to retirement

     Thanks for reading and following along on our own journey to retirement. Have you already reviewed your own statement? Did you find any discrepancies worth sharing with us? We appreciate your comments or questions.