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Test a Retirement Decision Before You Make It
Six decisions readers ask about most, each run against the same simple plan: when to retire, the house, gifts to family, the mortgage and Social Security. Change the inputs to roughly match your own situation.
Choose a decision to explore:
What if I retire at 62 instead of 67?
Five fewer years of saving and five more years of withdrawals. Social Security is claimed at 67 in both cases.
Used by every decision except the first
Today's dollars, including taxes and any mortgage payment
From your Social Security statements, in today's dollars
- Savings while working
- $40,000 a year
- Social Security claimed at
- 67 in both plans
Retire at 62: portfolio at 95, today's dollars
Plan holds, with less margin$1,140,285
About $2,015,423 less at 95 than if you retire at 67.
Retire at 67
$3,155,708
Left at 95
Retire at 62
$1,140,285
Left at 95
Use the left and right arrow keys to read each year. The same figures are in the table or results beside the chart.
The early years cost twice: no new savings, and full withdrawals before Social Security starts. Health insurance before Medicare at 65 is an extra cost this demo does not include.
Assumptions: 5.5% annual return and 2.5% inflation every year, $40,000 a year saved until retirement, spending and Social Security rising with inflation, no taxes and no market downturns. Results are in today's dollars. The people and figures are hypothetical; this is an illustration, not advice. A real plan needs your own accounts, taxes and a range of market outcomes.
Want this with your own numbers?
This demo tests one decision at a time against a simple plan. The retirement withdrawal calculator and the Social Security estimator go further with your own balances, and your CPA or adviser can test decisions together with your taxes. Our free newsletter sends new guides and calculators, and the year's numbers when they change.
Get the Free NewsletterWhy Test Decisions One at a Time
See the trade-off in dollars
A gift, a payoff or an earlier retirement each has a price in future margin. Putting a number on it makes the choice clearer, whichever way you decide.
Timing matters as much as size
Money spent at 62 has decades to be missed; the same money at 80 has far fewer. Many retirement decisions are really questions about when.
Know your margin
A plan that ends with a large balance at 95 can afford generosity or an early exit. A plan that ends near zero needs a closer look first.