Obama administration suspends mailing of annual social security benefit statements to cut deficit! [View All]

[Better Believe It]

Social Security Suspends Mailing of Annual Benefit Statements
By Mary Beth Franklin, Senior Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
March 31, 2011

Blame it on federal budget woes and a general migration of information from printed to digital format. Starting in April, most U.S. workers will no longer receive their annual Social Security benefit estimates in the mail.

“In light of the current budget situation, we are suspending the mailing of the annual statements beginning in April,” Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter tells Kiplinger’s. Congress has failed to agree on a budget for the current fiscal year, which means that most federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration, are operating at last year’s spending levels. Lawmakers have approved a series of short-term spending extensions, but if they don’t reach agreement on hotly contested budget issues, the federal government (excluding essential services) could shut down in mid April.

The agency began mailing annual Social Security statements to 125 million workers age 25 and older in 1999, at an annual cost of about $70 million. Last year, it mailed statements to more than 158 million Americans. Over the past decade, the annual statement has become an essential part of personal financial planning, supplying critical information about future retirement income and serving as a stark reminder of the need for personal savings to supplement those benefits.

The agency estimates it will save $30 million by suspending mailings for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in September, and will save an additional $60 million next year by restricting mailings to workers 60 and older.

Read the full article at:

http://content.kiplinger.com/columns/kiptips/archives/social-security-suspends-mailing-of-statements.html?si=1#