Go online to check redesigned Social Security statement

WASHINGTON » If you’re old enough and have worked long enough, you may recall getting an annual Social Security statement in the mail, about three months before your birthday, with estimations of your benefits.

But budget cuts put a stop to the mailings for most workers. Now, if you want to see your personal Social Security statement, you’ll have to create an online account. If you don’t have an account, or you have one but haven’t checked your statement lately, you should. The

Social Security Administration has given the statement a makeover. It’s shorter — streamlined down to two pages from the previous four — and, thankfully, better written.

“I give them a lot of credit for trying to make this more user-friendly and trying to explain a variety of things like disability and survivor benefits,” said Joel Eskovitz, director of Social Security and Savings at AARP Public Policy Institute. “It’s a lot of information to convey and generally speaking, I think they’ve done a really good job.”

The most useful change to the statement is a color bar chart that shows the estimated monthly retirement payments you’d get each year starting at age 62 when you first become eligible. Previous statements just showed the monthly amount at 62, your full retirement age, and an estimate of what you’d receive by waiting until 70. The increases stop when you reach 70.

Eskovitz said the redesign helps clear up confusion about when to claim Social Security. Some people, who claimed early, believed that their benefits would increase once they reached their full retirement age.

If you claim your Social Security at 62, your monthly benefit drops significantly. And, except for cost of living adjustments, you lock yourself into the lower amount for the rest of your life. If you turn 62 this year and you claim Social Security, your benefit would be about 29.2% lower than if you wait until your full retirement age of 66 and 10 months, according to an example from SSA.

If you can delay claiming your benefit, the new year-by-year benefit amount illustration is a great reminder of why waiting may be worth it. Every year you delay beyond your full retirement age, up to age 70, you get an increase in your benefit. The percentage increase varies depending on when you were born. If you were born in 1943 or later, your benefit increases by 8% for each full year you delay receiving Social Security beyond your full retirement age.

The redesign includes fact sheets tailored with other information that people may have overlooked in the older, more densely written version. It also includes a summary of some things you should know: