socialsecurity.mb

socialsecurity.mb

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  Prevent identity theft—protectyour Social Security number Your Social Security Statement Prepared especially for Mark A. Bizzelle www.socialsecurity.gov July 8, 2013 See inside for your personal information What's inside... Your Estimated Benefits...............................................................2 Your Earnings Record..................................................................3 Some Facts About Social Security............................................... 4 If You Need More Information....................................................4 What Social Security Means To You This Social Security Statement can help you plan for your financial future. It provides estimates of your Social Security benefits under current law and updates your latest reported earnings. Please read this Statement carefully. If you see a mistake, please let us know. That's important because your benefits will be based on our record of your lifetime earnings. We recommend you keep a copy of your Statement with your financial records. Social Security is for people of all ages... We're more than a retirement program. Social Security also can provide benefits if you become disabled and help support your family after you die. Work to build a secure future... Social Security is the largest source of income for most elderly Americans today, but Social Security was never intended to be your only source of income when you retire. You also will need other savings, investments, pensions or retirement accounts to make sure you have enough money to live comfortably when you retire. Saving and investing wisely are important not only for you and your family, but for the entire country. If you want to learn more about how and why to save, you should visit www.mymoney.gov, a federal government website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics of financial management. About Social Security's future... Social Security is a compact between generations. Since 1935, America has kept the promise of security for its workers and their families. Now, however, the Social Security system is facing serious financial problems, and action is needed soon to make sure the system will be sound when today's younger workers are ready for retirement. Without changes, in 2033 the Social Security Trust Fund will be able to pay only about 77 cents for each dollar of scheduled benefits.* We need to resolve these issues soon to make sure Social Security continues to provide a foundation of protection for future generations. Social Security on the Net... You can read publications, including When To Start Receiving Retirement Benefits; use our Retirement Estimator to obtain immediate and personalized estimates of future benefits; and when you're ready to apply for benefits, use our improved online application—It's so easy! Carolyn W. Colvin Acting Commissioner * These estimates are based on the intermediate assumptions from the Social Security Trustees' Annual Report to the Congress.
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  2 [ CX] Your Estimated Benefits Because You Have Already Filed a Claim for Benefits We are not giving you estimates because our records show that you have already qualified for benefits. If the benefits are based on your own record, you received a notice of your benefit amount when you first qualified. Each year, you get an updated notice showing the annual cost-of-living increase. If you continue working while qualified for benefits and those earnings increase your benefit amount, we will send you additional notices of the new amounts. And when you die, we will base benefit payments for your survivors on your benefit amount. If you are getting benefits as the spouse or the widow or widower of someone else, we must look at both records to determine how much you are entitled to. Please call our toll-free telephone number on page 4 or contact your local Social Security office so that we can discuss this with you. How Your Benefits Are Estimated To qualify for benefits, you earn "credits" through your work — up to four each year. This year, for example, you earn one credit for each $1,160 of wages or self-employment income. When you've earned $4,640, you've earned your four credits for the year. Most people need 40 credits, earned over their working lifetime, to receive retirement benefits. For disability and survivors benefits, young people need fewer credits to be eligible. We checked your records to see whether you have earned enough credits to qualify for benefits. If you haven't earned enough yet to qualify for any type of benefit, we can't give you a benefit estimate now. If you continue to work, we'll give you an estimate when you do qualify. What we assumed — If you have enough work credits, we estimated your benefit amounts using your average earnings over your working lifetime. For 2013 and later (up to retirement age), we assumed you'll continue to work and make about the same as you did in 2011 or 2012. We also included credits we assumed you earned last year and this year. Generally, the older you are and the closer you are to retirement, the more accurate the retirement estimates will be because they are based on a longer work history with fewer uncertainties such as earnings fluctuations and future law changes. We encourage you to use our online Retirement Estimator to obtain immediate and personalized benefit estimates. We can't provide your actual benefit amount until you apply for benefits. And that amount may differ from the estimates above because: (1) Your earnings may increase or decrease in the future. (2) After you start receiving benefits, they will be adjusted for cost-of-living increases. (3) Your estimated benefits are based on current law. The law governing benefit amounts may change. (4) Your benefit amount may be affected by military service, railroad employment or pensions earned through work on which you did not pay Social Security tax. Visit www.socialsecurity.gov to learn more. Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) — If you receive a pension from employment in which you did not pay Social Security taxes and you also qualify for your own Social Security retirement or disability benefit, your Social Security benefit may be reduced, but not eliminated, by WEP. The amount of the reduction, if any, depends on your earnings and number of years in jobs in which you paid Social Security taxes, and the year you are age 62 or become disabled. To estimate WEP's effect on your Social Security benefit, visit www.socialsecurity.gov/WEP-CHART. In 2013, the maximum monthly reduction is $396. For more information, please see Windfall Elimination Provision (Publication No. 05-10045) at www.socialsecurity.gov/WEP. Government Pension Offset (GPO) — If you receive a pension based on federal, state or local government work in which you did not pay Social Security taxes and you qualify, now or in the future, for Social Security benefits as a current or former spouse, widow or widower, you are likely to be affected by GPO. If GPO applies, your Social Security benefit will be reduced by an amount equal to two-thirds of your government pension, and could be reduced to zero. Even if your benefit is reduced to zero, you will be eligible for Medicare at age 65 on your spouse's record. To learn more, please see Government Pension Offset (Publication No. 05-10007) at www.socialsecurity.gov/GPO.
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  3 Your Earnings Record YearsYou Worked Your Taxed Social Security Earnings Your Taxed Medicare Earnings 1977 198 198 1978 747 747 1979 2,938 2,938 1980 1,108 1,108 1981 385 385 1982 1,205 1,205 1983 6,067 6,067 1984 7,227 7,227 1985 8,740 8,740 1986 3,782 3,782 1987 7,036 7,036 1988 13,493 13,493 1989 14,481 14,481 1990 11,566 11,566 1991 4,765 4,765 1992 3,907 3,907 1993 6,052 6,052 1994 6,431 6,431 1995 7,633 7,633 1996 29,257 29,257 1997 3,348 3,348 1998 0 0 1999 15,375 15,375 2000 5,059 5,059 Years You Worked Your Taxed Social Security Earnings Your Taxed Medicare Earnings 2001 8,171 8,171 2002 8,845 8,845 2003 1,673 1,673 2004 1,487 1,487 2005 566 566 2006 657 657 2007 43 43 2008 0 0 2009 0 0 2010 0 0 2011 0 0 2012 3,990 3,990 Total Social Security and Medicare taxes paid over your working career through the last year reported on the chart above: Estimated taxes paid for Social Security: You paid: $11,454 Your employers paid: $10,928 Estimated taxes paid for Medicare: You paid: $2,704 Your employers paid: $2,558 Note: In 2012, you paid 4.2 percent in Social Security taxes on your salary (up to $110,100) and 1.45 percent in Medicare taxes on your entire salary. Your employer paid 6.2 percent in Social Security taxes and 1.45 percent in Medicare taxes for you. If you are self- employed, you paid the combined employee and employer amount of 10.4 percent in Social Security taxes on your net earnings (up to $110,100) and 2.9 percent in Medicare taxes on your entire net earnings. Help Us Keep Your Earnings Record Accurate You, your employer and Social Security share responsibility for the accuracy of your earnings record. Since you began working, we recorded your reported earnings under your name and Social Security number. We have updated your record each time your employer (or you, if you're self-employed) reported your earnings. Remember, it's your earnings, not the amount of taxes you paid or the number of credits you've earned, that determine your benefit amount. When we figure that amount, we base it on your average earnings over your lifetime. If our records are wrong, you may not receive all the benefits to which you're entitled. Review this chart carefully using your own records to make sure our information is correct and that we've recorded each year you worked. You're the only person who can look at the earnings chart and know whether it is complete and correct. Some or all of your earnings from last year may not be shown on your Statement. It could be that we still were processing last year's earnings reports when your Statement was prepared. Note: If you worked for more than one employer during any year, or if you had both earnings and self-employment income, we combined your earnings for the year. There's a limit on the amount of earnings on which you pay Social Security taxes each year. The limit increases yearly. Earnings above the limit will not appear on your earnings chart as Social Security earnings. (For Medicare taxes, the maximum earnings amount began rising in 1991. Since 1994, all of your earnings are taxed for Medicare.) Call us right away at 1-800-772-1213 (7 a.m.-7 p.m. your local time) if any earnings for years before last year are shown incorrectly. Please have your W-2 or tax return for those years available. (If you live outside the U.S., follow the directions at the bottom of page 4.)
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  4Form SSA-7005-OL (01/13) SomeFacts About Social Security About Social Security and Medicare... Social Security pays retirement, disability, family and survivors benefits. Medicare, a separate program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, helps pay for inpatient hospital care, nursing care, doctors' fees, drugs, and other medical services and supplies to people age 65 and older, as well as to people who have been receiving Social Security disability benefits for two years or more. Medicare does not pay for long-term care, so you may want to consider options for private insurance. Your Social Security covered earnings qualify you for both programs. For more information about Medicare, visit www.medicare.gov or call 1-800-633-4227 (TTY 1-877-486-2048 if you are deaf or hard of hearing). Retirement — If you were born before 1938, your full retirement age is 65. Because of a 1983 change in the law, the full retirement age will increase gradually to 67 for people born in 1960 and later. Some people retire before their full retirement age. You can retire as early as 62 and take benefits at a reduced rate. If you work after your full retirement age, you can receive higher benefits because of additional earnings and credits for delayed retirement. Disability — If you become disabled before full retirement age, you can receive disability benefits after six months if you have: — enough credits from earnings (depending on your age, you must have earned six to 20 of your credits in the three to 10 years before you became disabled); and — a physical or mental impairment that's expected to prevent you from doing "substantial" work for a year or more or result in death. If you are filing for disability benefits, please let us know if you are on active military duty or are a recently discharged veteran, so that we can handle your claim more quickly. Family — If you're eligible for disability or retirement benefits, your current or divorced spouse, minor children or adult children disabled before age 22 also may receive benefits. Each may qualify for up to about 50 percent of your benefit amount. Survivors — When you die, certain members of your family may be eligible for benefits: —your spouse age 60 or older (50 or older if disabled, or any age if caring for your children younger than age 16); and —your children if unmarried and younger than age 18, still in school and younger than 19 years old, or adult children disabled before age 22. If you are divorced, your ex-spouse could be eligible for a widow's or widower's benefit on your record when you die. Extra Help with Medicare — If you know someone who is on Medicare and has limited income and resources, extra help is available for prescription drug costs. The extra help can help pay the monthly premiums, annual deductibles and prescription co-payments. To learn more or to apply, visit www.socialsecurity.gov or call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). Receive benefits and still work... You can work and still get retirement or survivors benefits. If you're younger than your full retirement age, there are limits on how much you can earn without affecting your benefit amount. When you apply for benefits, we'll tell you what the limits are and whether work would affect your monthly benefits. When you reach full retirement age, the earnings limits no longer apply. Before you decide to retire... Carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of early retirement. If you choose to receive benefits before you reach full retirement age, your monthly benefits will be reduced. To help you decide the best time to retire, we offer a free publication, When To Start Receiving Retirement Benefits (Publication No. 05-10147), that identifies the many factors you should consider before applying. Most people can receive an estimate of their benefit based on their actual Social Security earnings record by using our online Retirement Estimator. You also can calculate future retirement benefits by using the Social Security Benefit Calculators at www.socialsecurity.gov. Other helpful free publications include: — Retirement Benefits (No. 05-10035) — Understanding The Benefits (No. 05-10024) — Your Retirement Benefit: How It Is Figured (No. 05-10070) — Windfall Elimination Provision (No. 05-10045) — Government Pension Offset (No. 05-10007) — Identity Theft And Your Social Security Number (No. 05-10064) We also have other leaflets and fact sheets with information about specific topics such as military service, self-employment or foreign employment. You can request Social Security publications at our website, www.socialsecurity.gov, or by calling us at 1-800-772-1213. Our website has a list of frequently asked questions that may answer questions you have. We have easy-to-use online applications for benefits that can save you a telephone call or a trip to a field office. You may also qualify for government benefits outside of Social Security. For more information on these benefits, visit www.govbenefits.gov. If you need more information — Contact any Social Security office, or call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213. (If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you may call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.) If you have questions about your personal information, you must provide your complete Social Security Number. If you are in the United States, you also may write to the Social Security Administration, Office of Earnings Operations, P.O. Box 33026, Baltimore, MD 21290-3026. If you are outside the United States, please write to the Office of International Operations, P.O. Box 17769, Baltimore, MD 21235-7769, USA.