Retirement

Be Ready For This Journey and the Next

July 28, 2016 • By

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Last Updated: November 3, 2023

family at beachYou packed your bathing suit and beach towels. The sunscreen is handy and ready to apply. Your hat is firmly on your head while you sport those stylish shades. The time is finally here, and you’re going on vacation.

Hooray!

Before you get in the car, where are you with that other checklist? You know the one — for the longer vacation you’ll take someday. Are your ducks in a row for your retirement?

With some planning, your retirement dreams can come true. And it only takes a checklist, like the one you made for your vacation!

First, start by opening your personal my Social Security account. A personal my Social Security account is an excellent tool that helps you plan for the future. It lets you verify your earnings on your personal Social Security Statement — your future retirement benefit depends on your earnings throughout your career. You can view your Statement at any time; it gives you a good picture of what your future benefits will be. When you are ready to retire, you can even go online to apply for benefits from your home or office, with no risk of sunburn.

The advantages of having a my Social Security account don’t stop after you retire. Once you start receiving benefits, you can manage them with a my Social Security account. Setting up a my Social Security account is easy, convenient, and secure.

Another great tool to help you plan for a secure retirement is our Retirement Estimator. It provides you information about your future Social Security benefits while running different scenarios. You can use the Retirement Estimator to plug in different earnings numbers and retirement dates to help you decide the best time for you to retire. When that time comes, you can apply for retirement benefits online.

These services will put you on your way to the retirement of your dreams. It won’t take much of your time. Your vacation awaits, after all.

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About the Author

Doug Walker, Deputy Commissioner, Communications

Deputy Commissioner, Office of Communications

Comments

  1. Juanita J.

    The temporary password sent to me by mail. Won’t let me sign in. Where do I go to reset my password. Can you please help?

    • Ray F.

      We’re sorry that you had difficulty accessing your account, Juanita. If you are still having trouble accessing your my SocialmSecurity account, please call our dedicated my Social Security-Hotline. To reach this hotline, call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. At the voice prompt, say “helpdesk”, or contact your local Social Security office. Thanks!

  2. David M.

    I currently draw a death benefit from my wife who passed away in 2013. I am trying to see how much I would draw if I decided to switch to my benefits.

  3. Eleanor O.

    I have been using my Social security online account for several months now, but for some reason the system no longer recognizes my password. I have tried several times and on different days and it is always the same response……the system does not recognize my password. So, I decided to change my password, but when I was asked a number of questions to which I had no difficulty answering, the system informed that the answers did not match my original responses. So, what do I do now to be able to use the social security’s web site. I am spending a few months in a foreign country so I am not able to go to my local social security office.

    • Ray F.

      The “my Social Security” authentication system requires address verification as one of the essential criteria for issuing an account. People with APO/FPO/DPO addresses can create an account overseas, but our system does not support registration and account creation for users with a foreign address yet. While overseas, please contact your local U.S. embassy or consulate for any assistance related to your Social Security benefits. Also, our Office of International Operations home page provides more information to assist our customers living abroad.
      Upon your return to the United States, and if you still having difficulties creating or accessing your account, you can:
      •Call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. At the voice prompt, say “helpdesk”; or
      •Contact your local Social Security office.
      We hope this information helps!

  4. Glenda R.

    Was told I need to get a A card . How do I sign up for one

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  8. Teresa

    My Mother worked for years they said when she apply for disables that she didn’t apply for her SSD that she apply for SSI why didn’t they give her her full SSD it was a way to cheep her of her full retriement

  9. tammy

    There is NO JOURNEY under the SOCIALIST SECURITY SYSTEM, if you are physically disabled, marrying an “able bodied person” and loosing out on a lifetime of benefits, all because you married an “able bodied person”.

    Because you are physically disabled (adult disabled child) and you choose not to marry another adult disabled child or disabled person drawing off socialist security, you WILL LOOSE ANY AND ALL BENEFITS FOR LIFE. This means that the SOCIALIST SECURITY system is TELLING YOU WHO YOU ARE ALLOWED TO MARRY and who you are
    NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY! It is a discriminatory act “rule” and should be ILLEGAL!

    Even though I am permanently and totally disabled, if I marry an “able bodied person”, somehow that marriage makes everything ok and I am no longer considered disabled (in the eyes of the socialist security system). Magically (because I married an able bodied person), the pixie fairies come down and cure my disability, because now I can just go out and find gainful employment, no one will discriminate against my physical disability and everything will be grand, right? Somehow magically, marrying an able bodied person makes my physical disablility dissappear and now I am cured, right? WRONG!

    The issue is a special “Rule” that the Socialist Security System uses to discriminate against “certain” people. If you are a “physically disabled person” (AKA-certain people) and happen to marry an able bodied person, then the SOCIALIST SECURITY system will use special “Rules” to legally discriminate against you and deny you benefits, even if you appeal online.

    The SOCIALIST SECURITY system has caused me a lot of economic hardship all because I married an able bodied person. The SOCIALIST SECURITY system thinks someone who is physically disabled (permanently and totally disabled) marries an “able bodied person”, that somehow magically they are cured of their physical disability and two people can survive off the able bodied persons income. WOW, talk about a bunch of bureaucratic idiotic thinking, that somehow this would not cause a financial hardship….. amazing.

    The rules that the Social Security Administration uses to legally discriminate against persons who are “Adult Disabled Children” who happen to marry an able bodied person, are discriminatory. This is loosely referred to as the “marriage penalty” but I call it exactly what it is, a legal form of discrimination.
    I firmly believe this rule, is an act of bias, prejudice and discrimination against people who (by no fault of their own) are born disabled and happen to marry an able bodied person

    Please write your Congressional Representative and tell them to end this modern day form of Legal Discrimination. In this day of fairness and equality, there are still some people suffering from an outdated and oppressive bureaucratic rule.

    (PS. notice how the only thing any of these SOCIALIST SECURITY workers ever say are quotes of the rules or processes, like a worker drone. They are unable to address any topics that fall outside of their rule books). Typical bureaucracy and bureaucratic responses, like trying to argue over lost change with a vending machine!

  10. Dixie E.

    I am unable to drive due to seizures. The bus does not go to my county’s social security office. I have never owned a cellphone. They are too expensive. I can barely afford a landline. My husband drove me to soc. sec. 6 months ago so I could file for SSI. He has 2 jobs so he works from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 pm. He cannot take time off to drive me down to soc. sec. (30 miles from our house). All my friends works so can’t get a ride with them.
    This policy of requiring a cellphone is Discrimination against the poor! I have NO way to find out if I am going to receive SSI.

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