Do you miss receiving your social security benefits statement?  If you recall, the Social Security Administration used to mail annual statements to you, but suspended this service back in 2011.  Last month, the SSA announced that workers age 18 and older can now access their Social Security Benefit statements online.  “Our new online Social Security statement is simple, easy-to-use, and provides people with estimates they can use to plan for their retirement,” says Michael Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security.  This is a terrific financial planning tool because you can also view estimates for disability and survivor benefits. 

To access the site, you will need to register at http://ssa.gov/mystatement/.  You will be asked to create a unique user name and password as well as correctly verify personal information during this registration process.  They have also added an additional security measure in offering you the ability to set up text-message alerts for each time someone logs into your account.

It is our recommendation that you take the time to register and login to the website.  This information needs to be monitored to ensure accurate information from your employer is being submitted.  It is also important to check this information to be sure that no one else has used your Social Security Number.  Rest assured that this site is strictly informational so if someone did gain access to your account they could not make changes to your benefits.