Thinking retirement? Checklist can help your annual Social Security checkup
Say “annual checkup,” and most people imagine the doctor’s office. But another type of checkup can give you a sense of wellness without even leaving home. Visit socialsecurity.gov to do your own Social Security annual checkup.
Your Social Security Statement is available online anytime to everyone with a my Social Security account at socialsecurity.gov/myaccount. Creating your account gives you 24/7 access to your personal information and makes it impossible for someone else to set up an account in your name. We still send paper statements to those 60 and older who don’t have an account and aren’t receiving Social Security benefits. Your statement provides information about work credits (you need 40 credits to be entitled to a Social Security retirement benefit), estimates for retirement, disability and survivors benefits, plus a history of your earnings.
Work credits count
If you have earned 40 work credits, your statement will show estimates for retirement, disability and survivors benefits. If you don’t have 40 work credits, the statement shows how many you have and how many you still need to qualify for benefits.
Review earnings record
Review your history of earnings year by year to make sure each year is correct. This is important because Social Security benefits are based on your lifetime earnings. If any years are incorrect or missing, you may not receive all the benefits you are entitled to in the future. If you need to correct your earnings, contact Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please have your W-2 or pay stubs when you call.
Study benefit estimates
Review the section titled “Your Estimated Benefits.” Be sure to review not only your retirement estimate, but disability and survivors estimates. No one likes to think about disability, but a 20-yearold worker has a 1-in-4 chance of becoming disabled before retirement age, underscoring the importance of disability benefits. Since the value of the survivors insurance you have under Social Security may be more than your individual life insurance, be sure to check your survivors estimates also.
Tally additional estimates
Use our Retirement Estimator to compute future Social Security benefits by changing variables such as retirement dates and future earnings. To project what future earnings could add to your benefit, visit socialsecurity.gov/estimator.