When I first started writing about retirement planning, it was a little hard for me to imagine myself in that stage of life. Now, a decade later, it's easier to picture myself as a retiree -- maybe because I often find myself burned out due to a hectic schedule of work and wrangling children (but that's a whole other discussion).
For a while, when I did think about my personal retirement, I imagined myself ending my career at 65. But I've since changed my tune, and you may want to do the same.
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Why 65 may not be the optimal retirement age
Age 65 is when you're allowed to get health coverage under Medicare. For this and other reasons, it tends to be a pretty popular age to retire. And I used to think that it was a good age to wrap up a career and move on to that next phase of life.
I've since changed my mind for a few reasons. First of all, Americans, on a whole, are living longer these days. And while there's a lot of guidance out there on how to make your retirement nest egg last for 30 years, retiring at 65 could, for some people, mean having to stretch their savings for more than 30 years.
Plus, age 65 isn't when full retirement age for Social Security kicks in. For someone in my boat, that age is 67.
Now there have been talks of Social Security cuts since I started writing extensively about the program about 10 years ago. But even so, I expect Social Security to be able to pay something to today's workers. And I wouldn't want to slash my personal monthly benefit by claiming it at age 65.
Granted, it's possible to retire at 65 and hold off on filing for Social Security for a couple more years. But I actually think I may want to claim Social Security at 70 for the highest possible monthly benefit the program will pay me. So in that case, I'm not sure I would want to go five full years without benefits, as that would potentially mean tapping my retirement plan savings to a large degree.
But perhaps the biggest reason I no longer think 65 is the best age for retirement is that I can see myself getting bored with that stage of life no matter when it kicks off. So in that case, it pays for someone like me to work for as long as possible. It's a mental health thing just as much as it is a financial thing.
Think carefully before landing on your retirement age
You may be of the mindset that 62 is the best age to retire. Or maybe you think that age is 58, or 71.
Either way, it's a good idea to reevaluate your target retirement age from time to time and make sure your logic for choosing that age still holds up. You may, for example, decide that you'll end your career at 60 only to reach that age and realize you're not ready to stop working.
Meanwhile, if you do opt to retire at 65, make sure you understand exactly what that means in terms of your savings, Social Security, and other financial matters. It's true that Medicare is available to you at that age, so that's one expense that's covered (meaning, you'll still pay for Medicare, but you'll have access to a health plan). But that's only one piece of a very enormous puzzle.
