Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Lizna Odhwani

In March, our nation celebrates Women’s History Month. Today, more women work, pay Social Security taxes, and earn credit toward monthly retirement income than at any other time in our nation’s history.

Social Security has served a vital role in the lives of women for over 80 years. With longer life expectancies than men, women tend to live more years in retirement and have a greater chance of exhausting other sources of income. With the national average life expectancy for women in the United States rising, many women have decades to enjoy retirement. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a female born today can expect to live more than 80 years. Women need to plan early and wisely for retirement.

The benefits planner website at www.ssa.gov/planners provides detailed information about how marriage, widowhood, divorce, self-employment, government service and other life or career events can affect your Social Security benefit.

Your benefits are based on your earnings, so create your personal my Social Security account at www.ssa.gov/myaccount and review your earnings to ensure they are correct. If you find an error, gather proof of your earnings, such as a W-2 form, a tax return, a wage stub or pay slip, or your own wage records, and contact Social Security. Read the publication “How to Correct Your Social Security Earnings Record” at www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10081.pdf for more information.

Would you like to learn more about how Social Security supports women? Check out the online booklet, “Social Security: What Every Woman Should Know.” You can find it at www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10127.pdf. Sharing it with family and friends could change their lives for the better.

 

Lizna Odhwani is a Social Security public affairs specialist based in Norfolk. Contact her at Lizna.Odhwani@ssa.gov.