PUTNEY-Did you know that the first person in the United States to receive recurring monthly Social Security retirement checks was a Vermonter? Ida May Fuller of Ludlow started receiving benefits in January 1940 when she was 65. She was a legal secretary and lived to be 100. Her first monthly check was $22.54.
Your first monthly check most probably was or will be much more than that. But are your Social Security benefits, for which you have paid FICA payroll withholdings, at risk? Could you make monthly rent or mortgage payments without this income? How would your lifestyle be affected?
There are significant projected cuts to the SSA workforce which should impact services, but cutting Social Security benefits across the board would be politically fraught and would have devastating consequences. So for the sake of argument let's assume it will not happen.
But there is another frightening risk which really concerns me: cybersecurity.
Think about this. Who is currently able to access your Social Security Administration (SSA) data? What if all or a portion of the SSA database is hacked and your earnings history is lost or corrupted? What if the SSA then claims that your payments must be stopped or even that you owe them back payments?
Here's what you can do to reduce this risk. Go to ssa.gov, then log in and print out your earnings history. It's free. Save the digital download as well.
If you want to pay fees for more detailed or certified earnings history information, you can from the same site download Form SSA-7050-F4, Request For Social Security Earning Information.
You will have proof of your earnings history in a worst- case scenario. It won't take much effort, and you'll feel more secure about your Social Security.
John Bronstein
Putney
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