Social Security won't mail annual statements
Workers will have to use online tools to review annual tax and earnings records.
This post comes from Mary Beth Franklin of partner site Kiplinger.
Blame it on federal budget woes and a general migration of information from printed to digital format. Starting in April, most U.S. workers will no longer receive their annual Social Security benefit estimates in the mail.
"In light of the current budget situation, we are suspending the mailing of the annual statements beginning in April," Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter tells Kiplinger's.
Congress has failed to agree on a budget for the current fiscal year, which means that most federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration, are operating at last year's spending levels. Lawmakers have approved a series of short-term spending extensions, but if they don't reach agreement on hotly contested budget issues, the federal government (excluding essential services) could shut down in mid April. Post continues after video.
The annual Social Security benefit statement, which contains a summary of an individual's earnings history and estimated retirement benefits at various ages, generally arrives about three months before the worker's birth month. "So folks born in July will likely be the first ones who won't get the annual statement," Lassiter says. However, workers can still get an estimate of their projected retirement benefits based on their actual work history at www.ssa.gov/estimator.
Essential to retirement planning
The agency began mailing annual Social Security statements to 125 million workers age 25 and older in 1999, at an annual cost of about $70 million. Last year, it mailed statements to more than 158 million Americans. Over the past decade, the annual statement has become an essential part of personal financial planning, supplying critical information about future retirement income and serving as a stark reminder of the need for personal savings to supplement those benefits.
- Calculator:Am I saving enough for retirement?
Lassiter says the Social Security Administration hopes to resume mailing annual statements next fall, but only to Americans age 60 and older who are not currently receiving benefits. "The long-term plan is to allow the public to access the statement online," he adds. "We're working hard, but we don't have a timetable yet."
The individual statements contain more information than is currently available from the online Social Security Estimator tool, such as annual earnings history and estimates of disability and survivor benefits.
The agency estimates it will save $30 million by suspending mailings for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in September, and will save an additional $60 million next year by restricting mailings to workers 60 and older.
More from Kiplinger and MSN Money:
Many U.S. corporations are U.S. in name only. They have moved their legal residence to China or some other country where the tax rates are nil or much lower than in the U.S. Those corporations do not pay taxes on their profits until the money is brought into the U.S. Guess where the money is not being brought.
Corporations like GE have picked up their computers and papers, registered as a corporation overseas, and avoid paying U.S. taxes. Worse, many actually moved manufacturing to other countries (China, India, etc.) taking hundreds of thousands jobs out of the U.S.
Chinese say, "Thank you, U.S. government politicians for sending us jobs, factories, and your money.".
Do not even mention felons and what not.
What would you do if you were falsely convicted and now have a felony on your record?
You would be singing a different tune because now no one will hire you.
Do not point fingers and place blame until you have considered the full picture.
The problem with the government is....
Clinton administration balancing the budget for the year by pulling money from the Social Security Funds and never paying it back. None of the money ever borrowed from the Social Security Fund has been paid back by the government.
Save money?
-Get rid of pensions for Senators and House of Representatives.
-Change pay raises in government to a vote of the people. It is our tax money after all.
-Put a cap on campaign spending say....$100,000. This will allow people that more represent you to run for election.
-Have government quit supporting starving people in other countries and start helping ours
-Have your local government start feeding the hungry and the poor instead of building a new building for their government workers. How about educating them so they can pay it back by their salary taxes and sales taxes?
-Set a minimum number of hours driving in a driver's education course required by everyone. This will save money in the government by reducing accidents (reduces repairs to the roads and barriers, makes roads safer, requires less of police force)
-Write letters to your governor about our police force and how little they do.
-Write letters to your senators asking for change. With enough people writing letters, they will have to promote your change or keep receiving millions of letters.
Never believe that the world cannot be changed by one person, it is the only thing that ever has.
These are
Bad idea. With all the recent access and criminal activity with internet sites this could be bad. These tangible copies of our earnings is all we really have to argue our position if and when someone compromises the SS computer based information. Imagine trying to talk with these blood suckers and trying to help protect your position.
Ever try replacing lost or stolen savings bonds. That's another nightmare. Love the public sector.
Cut-Spending on
- FARM SUBSIDIES TO CORPORATIONS.
- Cut subsidies to OIL-COMPANIES.
- SLASH lawmakers salaries in half.
- Cut funding for health-care FOR LAWMAKERS
- Cut funding for LAWMAKER'S RETIREMENT ( senators in the senate and congressman in the house ), AFTER ALL THEY SHOULD BE IN THE SAME RULE AS EVERY CITIZEN.
- Don't give away taxpayer money throughout tax benefit to EVADING-TAX COMPANIES ( like General Electric who got of $3.2 billion from our money ).
- TAX EVERY TRANSACTION ON WALL-STREET . if I got taxed because I bought a chocolate bar and I got taxed for selling crap in amazon. They are buying and selling stock . Don't they ?
- NO MORE NO-BID CONTRACTS WITH THE GOVERNMENT.
Maybe they are doing this to soften the blow before telling us that we won't be able to collect the money we have been contributing our entire lives because of entitlement programs implemented or perpetrated by every sitting president of the US.
Bail out the banks, bail out the homeowners, punish the responsible people.
Hey, I feel bad, I do, for those that lost THEIR homes...But the house flippers/speculators: get lost and get a real job. I earn my money the hard way, by working. Not off the backs of those that work hard.
I don't really care about the statements coming annually, I found it ridiculous anyways since for years they have been telling us that SS will be bankrupt before I get there. I do have a problem with the number of people collecting benefits that have never paid into the system. I don't have a problem with the trully disabled collecting(someone who can not function at all) nor do I have a problem with survivors benefits to minor children who's parent passed and paid into it. I believe it was last year that there was a story about removing some disabilities from the list like ADHD and certain mental conditions...
Just checked. Everything is available on line. No need to get your knickers all twisted.....
Why isn't everything on line, so we could access it any time we wanted? I think this is just a ploy to get the people angry....perhaps government workers should not get mandatory raises, as we in the private sector experience.......
If we each had to pay our 56 cent share of the cost I bet most people wouldn't bother, or maybe only get one every few years. Nice to see government cost cutting for a change. Being forced to cut costs works almost as well as providing government workers with real incentives to innovate, but it's a start. The long-term plan to move it all online actually makes sense.
RELATED ARTICLES
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
ABOUT SMART SPENDING
LATEST BLOG POSTS
Hurricane season is coming. But storms can happen at any time. Here are six smart things to do to get your home ready before the storm hits.
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
TOOLS
Best rates on savingsFind the highest rates on savings accounts, CDs and money market accounts.
- Are you saving enough for retirement?
- Find a great credit card
- Car insurance premiums by model
