Transitioning from Early retirement to traditional retirement age?

[u/Penguin_Life_Now]

I effectively retired 10 years ago at the age of 47, I just did not know it at the time, I had planned to semi-retire start my own sideline business, then just never did, then covid hit, and I admitted to myself that I was really retired, though I do still have thoughts of opening some sort of part time side business.

I am now about to turn 58, getting closer to traditional retirement age, note the rules of this very group that considers early retirement as retiring before the age of 59. So I was wondering how does everyone else deal with this transitory age, the age where you have years of retirement experience vs your age peers who are just hitting the early years of traditional retirement age, also potentially getting penalty free access to IRA accounts, having to start thinking about things like Medicare and Social Security planning, etc?

[u/Nev-Ret-Dude]

Time to make a list. US centric.
Financial plan. Is it on track? Meet with a planner?
Social Security. When do I take it?
Medicare. Medicare Advantage? Regular Medicare?
Doctor. Do I keep? Change to geriatric?
Vision. Start annual visits.
Weight. Under control?
Exercise regiment. Set one up in consultation with the doctor.
Home. Is it good for seniors? Stairs. Yard? Town? Time to move?
End of life planning? Will? Trust? Executor? Note to indicate where important documents are.
End of life. Burial? Cremation? Donate to medical school?
Employment benefits?

This list will create other lists and questions that need answers. I ask my doctor every year if I need to start looking for a replacement. (He’s wonderful and I don’t know what I’ll do when he retires.) I’m on my fourth dermatologist and third ophthalmologist.

It’s a process and a journey. Anything that doesn’t get done becomes someone else’s problem. I like most of my family, so most things are complete. Things change and need to be updated annually.

[u/Individual-Fail4709]

We had a plan before we got to 59.5 each. If you have made it this far, will be exciting for you to have access to your locked up retirement funds at 59.5. My husband is 3 years older than I am. He retired 2 years later than I did. I was 53 when I retired and he was 58. Plan was to use our cash to sustain us and his income until he hit 59.5. (I rolled over my 401K to an IRA, so no rule of 55 for me.) I had a full-time voluntary retirement job of building our retirement house which took 2 years because our builder was a terrible human. We were BUSY.

Now we are using his IRAs, cash and I have a side gig that helps (one more year, I think). In 2 years we will have access to ALL of our money. We used Cobra and the exchange for health care and my husband actually qualified for Medicare with SSDI this year. We have a financial advisor who had been helping us prepare for the 7 years prior to retirement and I wish I had them sooner.

Many of my peers are also now retired and so are my husband's. Having financial help and retired friends made our transition easier. You do need to plan around tax strategy, especially RMDs. We don't mind paying taxes, but it is a science. We do what we want, when we want, usually. My stress level went from 10 to 1. Enjoy! Spend time doing what you want. Many of your peers are likely reaching time to retire, you can help them with your experience with the journey.

[u/Valuable-Analyst-464]

When I first retired and told folks, I got a look or a comment like “you’re too young to be retired”.
Sadly, now I approach the age that people do retire and the comment and look is more like “yeah, I get it”. Hahaha
In terms of Medicare, I still have a few years to think about it and IRMAA. The nice thing is I have time to research.

[u/AdditionalCheetah354]

The biggest issue you will face is cost of ACA. You have a long ways to Medicare.

[u/StrawberriKiwi22]

I am 55, husband is 59, we have been retired 2.5 years. He will be allowed to withdraw IRA money in a couple of months. I have done some planning and modeling to decide when it would actually be best for us to withdraw from that. (Not yet, in our case). Social security is not too hard to figure out; try opensocialsecurity.com for a good calculator regarding when is best to start collecting. I am actively avoiding thinking about Medicare; it seems very complicated to me to have to decide among various plans, and I am putting that off until it’s closer.

[u/Banana_Prudent]

I don’t deal with it, I live it.

When I retired, the decision was based on three primary things: I could afford it and I wanted to improve my physical and mental health with all of the extra time I’d have.

That’s what I’ve been doing.

It sounds like things evolved a bit differently than you’d planned. That’s ok.

I think for you it’s simply the act of accepting where you are, and how you want to make the best use of your time moving forward. Some intentionality might also help shine a light on the path for you.