I’m 63 and have not applied for social security benefits yet. I will probably hold out for my full retirement age, which is 66 and two months. Before I retired, I tried to create a My Social Security account, but the system didn’t recognize me. I called the social security office, and they said it was probably due to LifeLock, which we have for identity theft protection. The person on the phone said I would have to come to an office for them to resolve my issue.
A year goes by, and my dream of going to the social security office did not materialize. After reading this post about stolen social security benefits by Bob Lowry at Satisfying Retirement, I had additional motivation. I decided to bite the bullet and go today. It wasn’t a horrible experience. They are much more efficient than the DMV, but things didn’t go as planned.
The representative who helped me couldn’t get my account to line up either. He finally figured out the social security system has my birthday wrong. He told me to log in with the wrong birthday, and they could fix it later. I would need to return with my birth certificate.
He did assure me everything else looked fine. Having the wrong birthday in the system only affects me when I apply for benefits.
I mumbled the whole way home about whether or not to log in with the wrong birthday. That idea seems fraught with peril to me. I concluded it was a no-go, but I decided to get this business done and go back today with my birth certificate … which I could not find.
We keep legal documents in a fire-proof safe. Everything else important is in there. I did find a photocopy with my late mother’s handwriting.
Dear Mrs. P,
In the safety deposit box at the bank, was a note that you were given the certified copy on 10/3/77. Where the hell is it?
That made me laugh. I’m certain I must have had it at one time. Surely I needed it for my first passport. To get married? I don’t know. I’ve searched everywhere, and there’s no sign of it. I guess I will have to request a new one. I looked it up online, and the process doesn’t sound too terrible.
At least I have time to sort this out. Even if you aren’t ready to apply for benefits, I urge you to get the account so there are no surprises later.
Subscriptions
A few readers told me they were dropped off the subscription list for Retirement Confidential. Most people receive an email from SpecificFeeds. I haven’t changed that. If you are happy with what you get, everything will remain as is.
But if you don’t like SpecificFeeds or you want to subscribe for the first time, there’s a new subscription box on the sidebar. I like this one because the email goes out as soon as I publish, while the SpecificFeeds goes out once a day at a predesignated time. I also like it because I haven’t had any complaints yet!
All that to say it’s your choice. But if you’ve had issues, I recommend the new service. Then you can unsubscribe from the other. I’ll keep both active indefinitely so it’s as easy as possible for you.