As I pulled out a Social Security Annual Statement to write this post, I looked at the date. Yikes!

I have Paul’s 2011 statement but not this year’s statement. I checked the date on my record and found 2010’s statement but missing 2011 and 2012.

Guess I did not complete last week’s project. Oops! I’ll have to get on that this week. 😉

If you completed last week’s project, then you are ready to review your Social Security Annual Statement for accuracy.

Reviewing Your Annual Statement

Though your statement consists of 4 pages, only pages 1 through 3 contain information you can verify. The last page offers facts and extra help getting information. To review your annual statement, check the following information for accuracy:

Page 1

1. Your name listed after “Prepared especially for”

2. Your name and address under the bar code

Page 2

1. Your date of birth – the third line from the bottom of the first section

2. Your social security number or the last 4 digits

Page 3

Match your W-2 Wage and Tax Statements for each year with the listed amount under Your Earnings Record. You should find Your Taxed Social Security Earnings in Box 1 and Your Taxed Medicare Earnings in Box 3 of your W-2 form.

If you find discrepancies between your records and the numbers listed on your Social Security Annual Statement, then note those differences and set aside your documentation.

Weekly Project: Review your Social Security Annual Statement.

Though this step is time-consuming, you are the only one who can verify this information. If you cannot find your W-2 forms, work with what you have. Keep searching for those tax records because your Social Security Annual Statement determines your future benefits.

In using time wisely, review your annual statement and note all incorrect information. Next week, I will share the process I undertook to correct the discrepancies in my record. Keep organizing. I’m working along with you updating and verifying our information. Happy reviewing!

Question: How do you like the weekly project? 

In organizing our important documents, we have worked through Box 1 (personal documents) and Box 2 (insurance documents).

With an overview and a show-and-tell of Box 3 complete, I will begin sharing the contents of my file box 3 (retirement and investment documents) starting with the first category – Social Security Documents.

The Social Security Documents category contains the following documents which you may or may not have:

Social Security Documents

• Annual Statements
• Identification Cards
• Photocopies of Identification Cards
• Copies of checks for paid self-insurance tax

Getting your Annual Statement

If you are 25 years old or older and not receiving Social Security benefits, you should receive your annual statement via the U.S. Postal Service. Per the Social Security Administration’s website, the annual statements are mailed 3 months prior to the worker’s birth month.

Not sure of the accuracy of that information because I receive my Social Security Annual Statement about a month after my birthday. If my statement is mailed 3 months prior to my birth month, then the processing takes a long time, or Pony Express is still alive and well. 🙂

If you have not received your Social Security Annual Statement, you can access it online. Follow this link to the Social Security website. You will need to create an account to verify your identity.

To get your important documents organized to save money, energy, and time, start. You can begin at Box 1, Box 2, or right here as we tackle Box 3 week by week. To guide you along this journey, I will present a project each week to get your important documents organized, accurate, and complete. Are you ready to get organized?

Weekly Project: Get your Social Security Annual Statement.

Find it in your paperwork or obtain it on-line.

Next week, we will continue this journey reviewing your annual statement for accuracy. Keep organizing. I know your schedule is busy, school is back in session, and the paperwork pile remains.

In using time wisely to get your important documents organized you will save money (from paying for documents you already have), energy (searching for documents in a thick pile), and time (moving documents to find the right one). Start where you are, complete the weekly project, and happy organizing!

Question: Which box/file are you organizing?