I don't ignore it. I take a few minutes a year and do the below calculation.
In ssa.tools I paste my earnings record. Then I put in the number of years till I'm 66 as years left to work (my wife is 14 mo younger than me, so I need to work till both of us can get Medicare) and for income I use the
BLS median earnings for my profession (accountant) in my metro area (conveniently listed). I make significantly more than that now so it's reflected in my earnings record, but I'm fairly confident I can make the median wage and we could live on it, if need be. I take the benefit amount it spits out at 66 multiply it by 75%. If I'm feeling liberal, I multiply that number by 1.5 to account for both of us being alive/her getting spousal benefits. Otherwise conservatively, I die the day I retire and my wife gets my SS benefit.
I then put this result in the "DB Pension #1" field in the
VPW spreadsheet to help me spitball an annual amount to save for retirement. This year's calculation spit out 19% as a goal to save toward. We've exceeded that (with employer match), so I consider this year a good year.
Once a year, I definitely take 10 minutes to estimate my SS benefit when planning.
“The strong cannot be brave. Only the weak can be brave; and yet again, in practice, only those who can be brave can be trusted, in time of doubt, to be strong.“ - GK Chesterton