Many people reach 62 with the same private question.
Do I have enough money to stop working, or will retiring now ruin everything I built?
The numbers may look fine. The mortgage may be small or paid off. The children may support themselves. Yet leaving work still feels dangerous.
James Conole, MBA, CFP, is the founder and lead educator at Root Financial. His central message for people at this age is simple: do not let momentum make the decision for you. Root Financial describes retirement planning as something that must connect money with the life a person wants to live.
The greatest danger at 62 is not always a weak investment. It may be trading healthy and active years for money that has no clear purpose.
First, Find Out Whether Work Is Still Serving You
Working longer can improve your retirement plan.
You may save more money, delay withdrawals, keep employer health coverage, and increase future Social Security income. Those are real benefits.
But there is a difference between choosing to work and being unable to stop.
After decades in a career, work becomes part of your identity. You may be the manager, teacher, attorney, engineer, business owner, or person everyone calls when there is a problem.
You may also see yourself as a saver. Spending from your accounts can feel wrong, even when that was the reason you saved.
That mindset helped you build wealth. But the same mindset can make it hard to use the wealth.
Ask yourself four direct questions:
- What will one more year of work add to my retirement?
- Which life plans will I delay during that year?
- Am I still working because I enjoy it?
- Would I choose this job again if money were already settled?
Put real numbers beside the first question.
Suppose another year adds $60,000 to your retirement accounts. That is useful. But what will the extra money support?
Will it pay for essential living costs? Will it help a spouse retire? Will it fund a goal you care about?
Or will it simply make an already large number larger?
There is no wrong answer when the choice is clear. The risk begins when you keep working without deciding what the extra time and money are for.
A smaller step may also work. You could move to part time work, consulting, seasonal work, or a planned retirement date. This protects some income while giving you more control over your week.
Build a Monthly Income Plan Before Leaving Your Job
A retirement account balance does not tell you whether you can retire.
You need an income plan.
During your career, your employer solves this problem. Money reaches your bank account on a regular schedule. You then use it for housing, food, travel, taxes, and everything else.
Retirement changes that system.
Your income may come from several places:
- Social Security
- A pension
- A traditional IRA
- A 401(k)
- A Roth IRA
- A taxable investment account
- Cash savings
- An HSA
- Rental or part time income
The first step is to calculate your spending.
Separate it into three groups:
- Basic spending: Housing, food, utilities, insurance, taxes, transportation, and health care.
- Flexible spending: Travel, restaurants, hobbies, gifts, and home projects.
- Large future costs: Cars, roof repairs, family support, dental care, and major trips.
Next, subtract reliable income from total spending.
Suppose you want to spend $10,000 per month. That equals $120,000 per year after tax.
You and your spouse expect $5,000 per month from Social Security. Your investments must provide the remaining $5,000 per month.
That creates a $60,000 yearly gap before considering taxes.
Now you have better questions to answer:
- Which account should provide the $60,000?
- How much must be withdrawn before tax?
- Should the amount come from one account or several?
- How will withdrawals change after Social Security begins?
- What happens during a weak market?
A strong income plan maps each income source to each stage of retirement.
It should cover at least the first ten years in detail. Later years can use broader estimates because tax rules, spending, and health needs may change.
Do not assume every year will look the same. Travel spending may be high early in retirement. Health spending and care needs may rise later.
Do Not Claim Social Security at 62 on Autopilot
Age 62 is the earliest age most workers can begin Social Security retirement benefits.
That does not make it the correct age for every person.
For someone turning 62 in 2026, full retirement age is generally 67. Starting at 62 can produce a monthly benefit about 30 percent lower than the full retirement age amount. Waiting beyond full retirement age can increase the monthly benefit until age 70. No further delayed retirement increase is earned after 70.
This makes waiting sound like the obvious choice.
It is not always that simple.
Delaying Social Security means you must fund more spending from work, savings, or investments while you wait.
Consider a household retiring at 62 with a $2 million portfolio. The couple wants $120,000 per year after tax and plans to delay Social Security until 70.
They may need to withdraw about $150,000 before tax each year during the eight year gap. The exact amount depends on their tax situation.
A $150,000 withdrawal from $2 million equals 7.5 percent of the starting portfolio.
Now suppose the portfolio falls to $1.5 million after a market decline. The same $150,000 withdrawal equals 10 percent of the smaller balance.
Delaying Social Security could still work. But the plan now depends heavily on portfolio withdrawals during a difficult period.
Claiming earlier may reduce pressure on the portfolio. Waiting may create more guaranteed lifetime income later.
The right choice depends on:
- Your health
- Family longevity
- Marital status
- Survivor benefit needs
- Work income
- Taxes
- Portfolio size
- Spending needs
- Market risk
- Other guaranteed income
Married couples should also consider what happens after the first spouse dies. The surviving spouse often keeps the larger Social Security benefit rather than both benefits.
A higher benefit for the larger earner may give the survivor more protection.
Use your Social Security online account to check your personal estimates at different claiming ages. Do not base the decision on a general break even age alone.
Protect the First Years From a Bad Market
A market decline is painful at any age.
It can be more damaging when it happens soon after retirement because you are also withdrawing money. Selling assets after prices fall leaves fewer shares available for a future recovery.
This does not mean you should remove all risk from your portfolio.
Investor.gov explains that every investment carries some degree of uncertainty and possible loss. Investments with greater return potential often carry greater risk.
The goal is to match risk with the time when each dollar will be needed.
Money for next year’s bills should not depend on a strong stock market. Money that may not be spent for fifteen years can usually accept more movement.
One simple approach is to separate your spending needs by time:
- Keep near term withdrawals in cash or other lower risk holdings.
- Hold medium term money in investments with less movement than stocks.
- Keep long term money invested for growth based on your comfort and needs.
This is not a fixed formula. The right amounts depend on your income, withdrawal rate, pension, Social Security, and willingness to change spending.
You also need rules for a weak market.
Decide in advance:
- Which account will fund spending first?
- Which flexible costs could be paused?
- Will you rebalance after a decline?
- How much cash should remain available?
- When will you review the plan?
Written rules reduce the chance that fear will control your decisions.
Do not build a plan that works only when markets rise. Test what happens after an early decline, several weak years, higher inflation, and a large home repair.
Use the Tax Planning Window Before Age 73
Your first retirement years may create a valuable tax planning period.
During your career, wages may fill much of your tax return. After retirement, wages may stop. Social Security may not have started, and required withdrawals may still be years away.
Traditional IRA required minimum distributions generally begin at 73 under current rules. Certain workplace plans may allow a later start when a person continues working, depending on the plan and ownership rules.
The years between retirement and required distributions may give you more control over taxable income.
Possible actions include:
- Converting part of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA
- Realizing long term capital gains
- Taking planned IRA withdrawals
- Using taxable account money
- Coordinating charitable gifts
- Managing income before Social Security begins
A Roth conversion moves pretax retirement money into a Roth account. The converted amount is generally taxable in the year of conversion.
Paying tax now may help if it reduces larger taxable balances later. But converting too much can push income into a higher bracket and affect other costs.
Capital gain harvesting can also be useful. For 2026, the federal zero percent long term capital gain threshold is based on taxable income and filing status.
IRS guidance lists a maximum zero rate amount of $98,900 for married couples filing jointly and $49,450 for single filers for tax year 2026. Your actual result depends on all income, deductions, and gains reported on the return.
Do not focus only on this year’s tax bill.
A good tax plan considers:
- Future required withdrawals
- Social Security taxation
- Medicare income adjustments
- A future widow or widower filing as single
- State income tax
- Capital gains
- Estate goals
- Charitable giving
The best plan may involve paying some tax now to reduce greater taxes later.
Work with a qualified tax professional before completing large conversions or sales. A small mistake can change several parts of the plan at once.
Plan Health Coverage for the Gap Before Medicare
Many people can afford to stop working at 62 until health insurance is added to the budget.
Medicare is generally available at 65. This can leave a person retiring at 62 with about three years of coverage to arrange.
Possible options include:
- Coverage from a spouse’s employer
- Retiree health benefits
- COBRA
- Marketplace insurance
- Private insurance
- Part time work with health benefits
Compare the full cost rather than the premium alone.
Review:
- Monthly premiums
- Deductibles
- Maximum yearly costs
- Prescription coverage
- Doctor networks
- Specialist access
- Dental and vision costs
- Coverage while traveling
Marketplace support can depend on household income. That means IRA withdrawals, Roth conversions, investment gains, and other income may affect the cost.
This is another reason income and tax planning should be done together.
Prepare for Medicare before your 65th birthday. Medicare states that the Initial Enrollment Period generally begins three months before the month you turn 65 and ends three months after that month.
Missing the proper enrollment period can lead to delayed coverage or penalties unless you qualify for another enrollment period.
Also review Medigap timing. The federal Medigap open enrollment period generally lasts six months and starts when you are 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B.
Put these dates on your calendar before leaving your job.
Review Insurance Before Carrying It Into Retirement
Insurance needs change as your life changes.
A life insurance policy purchased at 35 may have protected young children, a mortgage, and a spouse who depended on your income.
At 62, the children may be independent. The mortgage may be smaller. Your investments may be able to support the surviving spouse.
That does not mean you should cancel life insurance without reviewing it.
It means you should ask what the policy protects today.
Review these questions:
- Who would face a financial loss if I died?
- How much income would disappear?
- Would my spouse lose part of a pension?
- How would Social Security change?
- Are there debts or estate costs to cover?
- Is the policy still affordable?
- Does the policy serve an estate or business need?
Disability insurance may also be less important after work income ends. But do not cancel coverage before checking the contract and retirement date.
Other risks may require more protection.
Your home value, investments, and total wealth may have grown since you bought property and liability policies. Old limits may no longer cover the assets now exposed.
Review:
- Home replacement coverage
- Auto liability limits
- Umbrella insurance
- Valuable property coverage
- Flood or disaster coverage
- Beneficiary details
- Policy ownership
- Long term care options
The goal is not to buy every policy.
The goal is to protect against losses that could destroy the plan while avoiding premiums for risks you can now cover yourself.
Stress Test Long Term Care Without Assuming You Need a Policy
Long term care is one of the hardest retirement risks to discuss.
Ignoring it does not make it smaller.
The Administration for Community Living reports that a person turning 65 has almost a 70 percent chance of needing some type of long term care service or support during the remaining years of life. The type, length, and cost of care vary widely.
A care event can affect both partners.
Suppose one spouse needs assisted living for several years. The household may pay for the care while still maintaining a home and living costs for the other spouse.
The person receiving care may die first. The surviving spouse could then face another ten or twenty years with a much smaller portfolio.
That is why care planning must protect the healthy spouse too.
You do not automatically need long term care insurance. Some households can fund care from savings. Others may use insurance, home equity, family help, or a mix of resources.
Start by answering five questions:
- Where would you prefer to receive care?
- Who could provide unpaid help?
- How much could your portfolio safely cover?
- What must remain for the healthy spouse?
- Would an insurance policy improve the plan enough to justify its cost?
Test several cases.
Include home care, assisted living, memory care, and nursing care. Use costs from your area rather than a national number alone.
Write down who would manage money and health decisions if you could not do it. Review powers of attorney, health directives, account access, and beneficiary forms with qualified legal help.
A written plan is useful even when the final decision is to self fund.
Give Every Dollar a Clear Job
Saving can become a habit with no finish line.
You reach one account balance and quickly set a larger target. The growth feels safe, so you keep working and contributing.
But a portfolio is a tool. Its value comes from what it supports.
Your money may be used for:
- Basic living costs
- Travel and hobbies
- Time with family
- Health and care
- Gifts
- Charity
- Education for grandchildren
- A home change
- A legacy for heirs
- Greater freedom from work
Decide what matters before setting the final number.
Suppose you say that travel is important. That goal is still too broad.
Write down where you want to go, when you want to go, how often, and what it may cost. Then add it to the income plan.
Do the same for family time, hobbies, housing, and giving.
This turns vague dreams into choices that can be funded.
It may also show that some plans should happen sooner.
The most active years of retirement are often the years when travel, long walks, sports, and full days with grandchildren are easier. Health cannot be guaranteed.
That is not a reason to spend without limits. It is a reason to stop treating every dollar spent as a planning failure.
Create separate goals for:
- Money you plan to spend during your lifetime
- Money held for major risks
- Money intended for family
- Money intended for charity
- Money with no current purpose
The last group deserves attention.
You may decide to invest it, give it, spend it, or keep it as added security. Any choice is fine when it is intentional.
But if your portfolio keeps growing while the life it was meant to support keeps shrinking, the plan needs another review.
I’m Austin Becker, an advocate for living life with intention and resilience. I write for men who are actively navigating life’s major transitions, tackling the realities of reinvention and finding renewed purpose with grit and honesty. I believe that personal growth doesn’t have a deadline it’s about continuously gearing up for the chapters that matter most.
Through my work, I aim to strip away the clichés of modern manhood, offering practical, no-nonsense insights on health, mindset, and legacy for those who want to move forward with strength and clarity.