Social security is an essential income source for countless people but its system is mired in confusion.

If you look back a hundred years in many countries, reaching old age meant economic strife, because people who were forced into retirement lost their incomes and struggled to survive. Those who didn’t have family or friends to support them were faced with frightening prospects, even starvation. So why don’t we experience this problem any more? Because of two little words: social security.

At present, social security has expanded into a massive enterprise. In 2014 it paid over $812 billion in benefits while accommodating 180,000 visitors for consultations and 450,000 phone calls daily. But isn’t social security just for poor people? Absolutely not, it’s for every tax-paying citizen who invested in it and everyone who is entitled to should reap its benefits.

Why?

Because income from social security is safe. You could lose your home to a mortgage default, your investments could plummet in value, but social security is guaranteed to retain value. For instance, over the two decades between 1991 and 2011, the average US investor actually incurred a net loss after accounting for costs and inflation. But over the same period, social security grew – it’s designed to increase with inflation.

So social security is a safe investment, but there’s a problem. It can be confusing and people often find themselves perplexed as to what they’re entitled to. For example, the social security system abides by 2,728 core rules. For married couples alone, the formula for calculating the benefit of each spouse consists of ten complicated mathematical functions! Not just that, but social security staff aren’t exactly the most helpful. In fact, they can only provide you information, never advice.

So how can you be certain to get what you’re entitled to?