10 Resources to Help Your Employees Prepare for Retirement

Social Security wants to help you prepare your employees for a secure, comfortable retirement. Security is the Social Security Administration’s middle name and we want everyone to enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labor.

We mentioned before that being prepared when you retire can open new avenues of possibilities. Our website has tools and information to help you secure today and tomorrow. When it comes to retirement, we’ve got you covered with 10 tools to help you plan for your retirement, apply for, and then manage your benefits as you go along.

1. Our Retirement Estimator provides estimates based on your actual Social Security earnings record. Plug in different numbers, retirement dates, and scenarios to help you decide the best time for you to retire.

2. Using our Retirement Planner: Plan for Your Retirement can help you find your ideal retirement age, estimate your life expectancy and the amount of your benefits when you retire. You can test future retirement ages and various earning amounts.

3. Read Retirement Planner: Getting Benefits While Working to learn the  rules and regulations about work after retirement, how it affects you, and what you should consider.

4. Retirement Benefits provides you with a broad overview of our retirement program. It covers how you earn coverage, how to apply, how benefits are figured, and how to decide when to retire.

5. When to Start Receiving Retirement Benefits takes a look at some factors that can help you make an informed decision about the best time to retire.

6. Your Retirement Benefit: How It Is Figured explains the formula Social Security uses to calculate your benefit amount, describes what factors can affect it, and offers a worksheet to help you estimate your retirement benefits.

7. The Medicare section of our website provides information about the Medicare program and answers general questions on Medicare.

8. Medicare Premiums: Rules for Higher-Income Beneficiaries explains the rules about people with higher incomes. If you have higher income, find out why you will pay an additional premium amount for Medicare Part B and Medicare prescription drug coverage.

9. Your personal my Social Security account is one of the most powerful tools available to secure your retirement. And lucky for you it’s at your fingertips. With a personal my Social Security account, your employees can get their Social Security Statement that shows estimates of their future retirement, disability, and survivors benefits. They can check their earnings to verify the yearly amounts that we posted are correct. They can also get estimates of Social Security and Medicare taxes they’ve paid.

10. Our online retirement application is an easy, convenient, and secure way to trail-blaze your way to retirement. You can complete it in as little as 15 minutes and, just like that, you can start the retirement of your dreams.

With these 10 resources, your employees can stay informed about their retirement options. Information is the first step toward achievement. When you retire one journey ends while another begins. Be ready for your next adventure!

Irene Saccoccio is the National Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Social Security Administration.