The Social Security Administration (SSA) has a lot of tools to help people who depend on their programs find the information they need about their benefits. This helps retirees now and in the future make smart choices and ask the right questions before problems arise.
A lot of people only look at the website, which has a lot of information and can answer almost any question. However, the answers are general and aren’t tailored to the needs of the person who needs them.
There is always the option of calling, but that can mean waiting and possibly being passed around a few times, which is not a good choice for most people with busy lives.
Of course, there is a third source: the website, where we can find the my Social Security online account. It might look like just another tool, but it has all the information that is relevant to the person who is using it.
It can help answer a lot of questions in a relevant way, or at least help you ask better, more complete questions when you need to call someone.
My Social Security online account
The best way to figure out information, the account will help you:
- Receive a personalized estimate of your retirement benefit or your spouse’s retirement benefits
- Check the status of your Social Security application
- Confirm your earnings record, which will determine the amount of your benefits
- Set up or change your direct deposit form if you’re currently receiving benefits
- Print a benefits verification
- Update your address
All of those things are very important, but soon there may be an unexpected problem for some retirees, especially those who already have an account. The account is going to change. The SSA says that more than 46 million people set up a “my Social Security” account before September 18, 2021.
That’s how they set up a username and password to log in to the site. But these will soon be useless because the site is switching to a Login.gov account ID.me account.
Old users will need to update their account soon if they want to keep accessing the site and its resources. If they don’t, they will lose all the information stored in their profile.
Lucky for us, the process is easy, especially for people who already have an ID.me or Login.gov account. If this sounds like you, all you have to do is sign in with the credentials you already have, and the accounts will be merged right away.
People who don’t already have one of these accounts will need to make one in order to get back in and continue managing their benefits. If you don’t get rid of these old accounts before they become useless, you might not be able to get your benefits again, so do it right away.
The system will walk you through the change; all you have to do is read carefully and fill in the blanks. Another thing you can do is set up two-factor authentication (2FA), which will help keep your data safe.
Just think about your 2FA. When you try to sign in to the site, the SSA will ask for a phone number or another way to reach you that they can use to make sure you are who you say you are.
If you need to log in, this is the account or phone number that you will have on hand, so don’t use your office phone or email address in case it changes.
Make sure that all the information you use is yours and yours alone (so that people close to you can’t access it) and that you can get to it whenever you want to log in.
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