WASHINGTON (AP) - People planning for retirement have a new a fast and easy online estimator for Social Security benefits.

The Social Security Administration unveiled its new retirement estimator Monday at ssa.gov/estimator/.

It takes just a few points and clicks at the Web site and some personal information to produce a benefit estimate within a few minutes.

The calculator will be followed this fall by an updated online application for benefits. Social Security Administrator Michael Astrue promises that it will reduce application time from the current 45-minute process to 15 minutes - and eliminate the need for follow-up visits to agency field offices.

"These initiatives will help us better handle the baby boomer wave and make it easier for the public to do business with us online," Astrue said.

Currently, an annual benefit estimate is mailed to workers. It is based on prior earnings and assumes that the person's salary will stay the same until retirement age. The online calculator will supplement the annual mailing but won't replace it.

The online calculator permits future retirees to create a more accurate estimate of benefits because workers can factor in a higher estimate of their future earnings. People can also factor in different retirement ages.

The calculator replaces a laborious online calculator that required people to type in their earnings history, which can involve guesswork for people who don't keep voluminous records. The new version uses the Social Security database to provide accurate earnings information, although the calculator requests the most recent year of earnings since there's a lag in getting salary information into the Social Security database.

There's inherent uncertainty about the estimates since for many people, it's difficult to predict future earnings. That's especially true for younger workers.

"The closer you are to the retirement age, the more accurate this estimate is going to be," Astrue said.

In addition, Social Security benefits most likely will be somewhat curbed in future years as lawmakers shore up the system to prepare for the retirement of millions of baby boomers. Social Security now runs a surplus and is expected to do so until 2017, when the agency will have to start cashing in special Treasury notes to help pay benefits.

Social Security's trustees say it's possible to produce actuarial balance over the next 75 years in various ways, including an increase in the combined payroll tax paid by workers and employees from 12.4 percent to 14.1 percent or an immediate reduction in benefits of 12 percent. More likely, there will be some combination of the two.

Astrue also said the agency has taken steps to make sure people's personal information won't be divulged. The agency has worked up a new security system for online applications, although many foreign-born recipients will still be required to furnish proof of retirement age at field offices.