Why You Can't Believe Your Social Security Statement
It's a wonderful feeling to pull up your Social Security statement online and see how much money you'll be getting in benefits each month once you retire. There's just one problem: The benefit amount on your statement is probably wrong, and if you're more than a few years from retirement, it's probably very wrong.
Anyone who has earned enough work credits to qualify for Social Security benefits (it takes 40 credits, which for most people means 10 years of work) can view their Social Security statement online. This statement includes estimates of the benefits you'll receive if you retire at your full retirement age, at age 70, or at age 62; the amount you'd get in disability benefits if you became disabled now; and the amount your family would get in survivor benefits if you died this year.
Because the disability benefit and survivor benefit numbers are based on current information, they're accurate (at least for today; in a year or two, those numbers may have changed). However, the retirement benefits are estimated based on your earnings record up to the previous year.
Source: Fool.com
