Social Security is synonymous with retirement to many people, but your relationship with the program starts long before you retire. You pay Social Security taxes on your income during your working years, and the government uses this money to fund benefits for seniors today. But it also keeps your information on file to use when calculating your future checks. Here's a closer look at three ways your actions today affect your Social Security benefits.

As mentioned above, the Social Security Administration taxes your income today to fund benefits for current recipients. The Social Security payroll tax rate is 12.4%, split evenly between employee and employer. Normally, this automatically come out of your paychecks, unless you're self-employed. Then, you have to pay estimated taxes to cover the entire amount.

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Source Fool.com