All Workers to Get Annual Statement of Benefits

The Social Security Administration is embarking on the mother of all mass mailings. And this one won’t be junk.

Starting Oct. 1, the agency that provides 40% of the income for Americans older than 65 will automatically send an annual statement to most working adults not already receiving benefits.

The information will go to workers older than 24, about 125 million of them. Social Security officials are calling the effort the largest customized mailing ever undertaken by a federal agency.

And it won’t be cheap.

Every statement will cost about 56 cents to produce and mail, for an annual expense of $70 million. In the past, the agency has encouraged workers to request a statement every three years to ensure their work history is accurate, and to help plan for retirement. But many people never do.

Now SSA is taking the initiative because of a law, enacted in 1989, requiring the agency to send statements starting in 1995 to people turning 60, and to everyone starting this year.

In addition to a work history, the statement will include an estimate of how much money you’re likely to receive in retirement. Your benefits are based on what you earned, hence the need for an accurate summary of your career. The mailings will be scattered throughout the year, and about 500,000 will be shipped out each workday. Your statement will be sent about three months before your birthday.

Here’s what the four-page statement will tell you:

* Whether you’ve worked long enough to qualify for benefits when you reach retirement age.

* How much you’re likely to get each month if you retire at 62, full retirement age (currently 65 but rising to 67) and at age 70.

* What you’ll be paid if you become disabled and can’t work.

* How much your family members will get if you die.

* An annual breakdown of your earnings.

* The total amount you’ve paid into Social Security during your career.

* How Social Security works, and how to fix a mistake in the statement.

“Look for it, read it and use it,” said Joan Wainwright, an agency spokeswoman. She called the annual earnings record “a critical piece of information” that people should examine carefully. “They really should take a look at that,” she said. “Women who change their name, get married, divorced or whatever, find a lot of the time that they have missing years.”

Every year, about 4 million working adults--men and women--change their names, so mistakes aren’t uncommon, she added.

In announcing the mailing, the agency referred to a recent Gallup poll that showed people who had received statements had a much better understanding of Social Security, adding that it was intended to provide only a portion of an individual’s retirement income.

“Social Security was always considered to be the foundation,” Wainwright said. “If you don’t know your base, its hard to determine what you’ll need to save.”