What is the Social Security Administration?

What is the Social Security Administration? So SSA for short, was formed back in 1935 and it focused on paying benefits to retired workers. So then in 1939 they added benefits for spouses along with survivors and then minor spouses of deceased workers. Later in 1956, disability benefits were added. And then 1965 is when Medicare began. So there’s a slew of programs that SSA provides. So walking through those, you’ve got the Social Security retirement benefits. I mean that’s going to be providing a monthly income based on 35 years of your highest income earnings. So you can start that anywhere between the ages of 62-70. And those different decisions are going to be key is based on maybe your health or your lifestyle. What sort of income do you need? Maybe still working when you’re 62, 66, maybe upwards of 70. Then you may want to determine when you want to start that Social Security income. There’s also Social Security disability benefits. So it provides benefits to workers who become disabled and ultimately can no longer work. There’s going to be several rules and criteria to meet eligibility requirements. So you’ll want to look into that more specifically. There’s Social Security survivors benefits. So this is for a spouse and maybe other family members of a worker who has passed away. A widow or widower can begin benefits at age 60 along with if they’re raising the deceased’s child. Again, there’s going to be different rules as far as the age of those children. But then another is going to be Medicare. So it’s going to provide health insurance for people age 65 plus. And then SSA handles the enrollment for Medicare in parts A and B. And the premiums can then be withheld from your Social Security checks. And then SSA is ultimately going to be funded through the Federal payroll tax called FICA. So both employees and employers contribute to this along with self employed individuals are paying into this. So you’re maybe witnessing if you’re looking at Social Security retirement benefits how it’s projected here in the next decade or so how they may be reducing benefits by approximately 21%-22% if nothing changes. So that’s where it’s unknown at this point what that looks like if they’ll adjust those FICA taxes to continue to prolong those benefits and not have to reduce them. So I encourage you, if you don’t currently have a plan as far as when to draw your Social Security, we’d like to sit down and have a conversation with you to better understand where you are, what you’re trying to do and maybe help provide you some plans to retire well.