Knowledge is Power When It Comes to Social Security
A bipartisan group of lawmakers believes that knowledge is power – especially when it comes to planning for retirement. They recently introduced the Know Your Social Security Act. The proposed bill would require the Social Security Administration to resume mailing annual statements to everyone (age 25 and older) who has paid into the system.
According to CNBC, for the past ten years Social Security has only sent paper statements to people who are over the age of 60 and not receiving benefits or those who had not yet registered for a My Social Security account. If you are younger than 60 and don’t have an online account, then you have no way of knowing your Social Security status. If passed, the Know Your Social Security Act will require the Social Security Administration to mail annual statements to all workers ages 25 and up who are paying into the system but not yet collecting benefits.
The premise behind the bill is that by receiving annual statements, workers will be able to see how much they’re contributing to Social Security and Medicare, as well as how much money they are eligible to receive in benefits. This should help people better plan for retirement.
Most importantly, this information will also call attention to the ridiculously low amounts of benefit payments most retirees receive. Seniors EARNED a secure retirement. In many cases, barely enough money to live off of, especially with the high price of healthcare.
The Seniors Trust has been working diligently to change all this through passage of the Social Security Expansion Act. When passed, this landmark piece of legislation would increase monthly benefit payments, provide retirees with a better annual cost-of-living adjustment, and strengthen the long-term solvency of our nation’s Social Security program.
