It used to be that I would periodically send in a request to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to get a statement of my earnings, account contributions, and estimated retirement and disability benefits. Lately they've been sending the statement out every year a couple of months before my birthday. I don't know if they do this for everyone or just those over a certain age but it certainly is a good idea.
When I received my statement this year it prodded me to look into what my benefits were and to question whether or not I should apply for benefits before my Full Retirement Benefit (FRB) Age. I had always just assumed that I would apply for benefits at age 66 which is my FRB age but then I'd always assumed I would retire about then as well. Since I actually retired younger than that, I decided I should rethink the idea.
It turns out the the SSA website www.ssa.gov has all kinds of calculators including one that gives a "breakeven" point for the advantage or disadvantage of applying for benefits early. When I plugged in the appropriate numbers it appeared that my breakeven point was age 78. In other words, if I die before age 78 I'd do better to begin receiving benefits now. If I make it past 78 it would have been better to wait. That made me decide that applying now would be the win-win situation. If I die early, I'll have gotten more SSA benefits and if I die later I'll have lived longer than I expected. Either way I win.
Another feature of the SSA website is the ability to apply for benefits online. They've done a good job of providing a questionnaire that was much easier to complete on the computer than one by hand because I have so much difficulty writing anymore. To complete the process I still had to visit the Social Security office but that visit was probably shortened by 30 minutes because I was able to complete the application online and collect the necessary documents ahead of time.
The actual office visit was depressing. The waiting room is large and bleak, seemingly designed to avoid any damage by patrons waiting to be served. I can only think it is designed so because they've had problems in the past. I can't imagine the elderly and disabled to be that much of a problem. They even have a uniformed guard handing out the "next" numbers.
After a 45 minute wait I was ushered into a much friendlier interview room when a knowledgeable fellow reviewed my documents and application, pronounced everything complete and said that I could start receiving benefits in August. I can still decide whether I want to try to earn more than $1,000 per month or receive a $1,500 per month benefit but I think I've already made up my mind.
They started sending out yearly updates to everyone a few years ago. It actually prompted me to do the whole family childcare thing officially (i.e. claim expenses, pay taxes, and let Natalie and Lee take the deduction) because my earned income accrues benefits that stay-at-home Moms don't necessarily qualify for.
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