You haven’t lost it – you didn’t get it! Your Social Security retirement benefit estimate statement has not been mailed to you because the government is trying to save money.
But you can still get the information. Just go to https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/estimator.html and click on the button in the center of the page that says Estimate Your Retirement Benefits.
You will need very basic information such as name, date of birth, social security number, mother’s maiden name, and the state in which you were born.
Your Retirement Benefit Estimate will come up; it will give you the estimated benefit amount for:
1) early retirement at age 62
2) at your Full Retirement Age, which depends upon your date of birth
3) delay starting benefits until age 70
Click on the Save/Print button at the bottom.
It is very easy to do; it took me 3 minutes and 53 seconds from start to printout in my hand.
Social Security income is one factor of many when collecting data for the retirement planning process. If your situation has some complexity due to divorce, remarriage, etc., and you are nearing retirement, I encourage you to make an appointment with the St. Louis Social Security office to get your specific retirement benefit payments.