Check your Social Security statement
See what Social Security estimates your benefit will be, and read the earnings record it is built from.
A statement is Social Security showing you its own arithmetic: what you would be paid, based on the earnings record it holds for you.
Key points
- Find your Social Security statement and what it pays at 62, 67 and 70
- Read your earnings record year by year and spot a year that shows nothing
- Recognize a fee for something the government gives away
What to remember
- The route is nearly always the same: the service, the start button, then your record.
- The statement is free at ssa.gov, and free by telephone.
Try this
Type ssa.gov/myaccount into the address bar yourself and read the page before the start button. Do not sign in today.
Practice: Check your Social Security statement. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.