The 2018 OASDI Trustees Report

Posted: June 20, 2018

On June 5, the Social Security Board of Trustees released its annual report on the current and projected financial status of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds. The 2018 Trustees Report is available at www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2018. For readers requiring more detail, there are Supplemental Single-Year Tables in html and xlsx data formats. Reference should always be made to the published report for context and explanation of terminology.

Social Security Helps Promote Financial Literacy

Posted: April 16, 2018

Social Security is one of 19 federal agencies that make up the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC) that was established under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. The Commission’s role is to develop a financial education website (MyMoney.gov) and a national strategy on financial education.

As a member of the FLEC, the Social Security Administration (SSA) collaborates with other member agencies, non-member federal agencies, and the private sector to promote financial literacy and retirement security. Of course, even before the FLEC was established, SSA raised awareness of the three-legged stool of a secure retirement: benefits from pensions, savings and investments, and Social Security.

Having a secure retirement starts with understanding Social Security benefits. All American workers have secure, online access to their earnings history, and they can obtain estimates of how much they may receive in future retirement benefits from Social Security through their online my Social Security account.

But in planning for a comfortable retirement, remember that Social Security replaces only a portion of your pre-retirement earnings. Consequently, workers will also need to consider other options to supplement Social Security, including:

• Contributing to pension or 401(k) plans offered by employers;
• Maintaining and growing savings accounts; and
• Opening and regularly contributing to an individual retirement fund.

For more than 80 years, Social Security has helped secure today and tomorrow by providing benefits and financial protection for millions of people throughout their life’s journey.

Open Data at Social Security

Posted: March 16, 2018

Social Security continues to release data in support of the open data initiative. Each month we update the Open Data Progress Chart to reflect new datasets added. We also added a downloadable dataset that provides the same data as the chart, but in a machine readable file.

Sunshine Week is Coming Soon

Posted: February 28, 2018

Sunshine Week is an annual nationwide celebration of access to public information. Across the country, Sunshine Week is marked by panel discussions, workshops and other events about using and understanding the latest developments in freedom of information resources. You may want to participate in one of these events. Here is the 2018 calendar.

National Data Privacy Day

Posted: January 30, 2018

January 28, 2018 marked the annual observance of National Data Privacy Day. Congress established this day to increase awareness about data privacy, the importance of individual privacy rights, and the need to protect personally identifiable information (PII) from improper use and disclosure. This year, the Social Security Administration adopted the theme “Respecting Privacy, Safeguarding Data, and Enabling Trust: Do Your Part – Be Privacy Smart!” You can also review some practical tips for being privacy smart on the National Data Privacy Day’s webpage at Stay Safe Online.

Open Data at Social Security

Posted: January 25, 2018

Social Security continues to release data in support of the open data initiative. Go to our Social Security Data Page for a summary of our efforts and our enterprise data listing. Each month we update a progress chart and downloadable file to reflect new datasets added. You can review them, as well as historical information, at Plan Progress Chart.