How to work out when you can retire
- Put a number on retirement spending in today's dollars. Estimate your retirement spending from today's budget if you are not sure yet.
- List what you have and what you add each year, split into retirement accounts and money you can reach any time.
- Add Social Security (your ssa.gov statement estimate) and any pension, at the age each starts.
- Allow for tax on withdrawals and for health insurance before 65.
- Find the earliest age at which the money lasts to the end of the plan (we use 95), then test it against a bad market.
The calculator above does these steps for four ages at once. It keeps everything in today's dollars: contributions and spending you enter are real amounts, and the engine deflates investment returns by inflation before it grows balances. That makes the side-by-side columns comparable even when you are decades from retirement.
You do not need a perfect budget on day one. Start with a rough spending number, then refine it after you see which retirement ages fail and which leave margin at 95. Many households discover that bridge years — before Social Security, Medicare, or penalty-free account access — matter more than the headline retirement age.
Retire at 55, 60, 65 or 67: what changes at each age
Retiring at 55
Most 401(k) and IRA withdrawals before age 59½ carry a 10% additional tax on top of ordinary income tax, unless you qualify for an exception. The IRS describes the age 59½ rule and the penalty in its tax on early distributions topic; common exceptions, including the rule of 55 for certain employer plans, are listed under exceptions to the tax. Substantially equal periodic payments under 72(t) are another route, with strict continuation rules. This calculator does not model those paths; it only lets retirement-account dollars cover spending from age 60 onward, so anytime savings carry early retirement years in the comparison.
You also face about ten years of health insurance before Medicare and at least seven years before Social Security can start at 62 — so savings you can reach any time matter most.
Retiring at 60
In this model, retirement accounts are usable from age 60 (a stand-in for 59½). You still have five years before Medicare at 65.
Retiring at 65
Medicare eligibility generally begins at 65, which can remove a large bridge-health line from the budget. Medicare.gov explains when you can sign up and how Part A and Part B coverage starts. This calculator does not estimate premiums or IRMAA; you enter a single pre-65 health insurance figure and it drops off at 65 automatically.
Retiring at 67
Full retirement age for anyone born in 1960 or later is 67. Retiring then aligns with an unreduced Social Security benefit if you claim at 67.
The table below uses the calculator's built-in reference household: age 38 today, $200,000 in retirement accounts and $50,000 in anytime savings, $25,000 a year to retirement accounts and $10,000 to anytime savings until retirement, $70,000 a year of spending in today's dollars, $15,000 a year for health insurance before Medicare, $30,000 a year of Social Security at full retirement age (67) claimed at 67, a 6% nominal return, 2.5% inflation and a 10% flat tax share on withdrawals. The earliest age that lasts to 95 in that steady-return run is 58. Retiring at 55 fails in the bridge years before retirement accounts are usable in this model; waiting to 60 or 65 leaves more cushion at 95. A 25% drop in the first retirement year moves the earliest age to 61. Figures are rounded and illustrative, not a recommendation for your household.
| Retire at | Status to 95 | Savings at retirement | First-year withdrawal | Left at 95 | After 25% drop in year one |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | Runs short before 60 (at 58) | $1,231,338 | 7.7% | — | Runs short before 60 (at 57) |
| 58 | Lasts to 95 | $1,470,458 | 6.4% | $454,436 | Runs out at 81 |
| 60 | Lasts to 95 | $1,643,789 | 5.7% | $1,328,459 | Runs out at 95 |
| 65 | Lasts to 95 | $2,131,634 | 3.6% | $3,273,166 | Lasts to 95 |
| 67 | Lasts to 95 | $2,350,889 | 1.9% | $3,874,354 | Lasts to 95 |
The gap between 58 and 60 is small in calendar years but large in dollars: one more working year in this example adds about $85,000 to savings at retirement and lifts the balance at 95 by roughly $444,000, because you both contribute longer and skip a year of withdrawals while the portfolio keeps compounding. That is why the calculator highlights one more year beside the side-by-side table, not as a universal rule to keep working.
What working one more year does to your retirement date
In the worked example, retiring at 59 instead of 58 means $85,211 more saved at retirement, a first-year withdrawal of 6.1% of savings instead of 6.4%, and about $444,000 more left at 95 in today's dollars. One year adds contributions and removes a year of withdrawals, and both keep compounding. Retiring one year earlier, at 57, runs out at 95 in this steady-return estimate — a reminder that the date can sit on a knife edge.
What is one more year syndrome?
One more year syndrome is the habit of pushing a retirement date back a year at a time, often after the numbers already say you could stop. Seeing exactly what another year adds, in savings and in what is left late in life, can help you decide whether the extra cushion is worth a year of your time. A calculator cannot price the year itself.
What moves your retirement date most
Small changes move the date by years because every lever hits both sides of the ledger: more savings or lower spending shrink the withdrawals your portfolio must cover, while higher returns or lower taxes stretch the same balance. Social Security claim age matters most when you retire well before benefits start, because the portfolio must bridge those years alone. In the reference household, spending dominates: a 10% cut moves the earliest age from 58 to 56, while a 10% increase moves it to 59. Investment return is nearly as powerful: if long-run returns were 1 point lower (5% instead of 6%), the earliest age slips to 60. In this example, a higher tax share or lower anytime savings only moves the earliest age later; a lower tax share or more anytime savings only moves it earlier.
| Change (reference household) | Earliest retirement age |
|---|---|
| Baseline inputs | 58 |
| Spending −10% | 56 |
| Spending +10% | 59 |
| Save $5,000 more a year (anytime) | 57 |
| Return 5% instead of 6% | 60 |
| Tax share 0% | 56 |
| Tax share 20% | 59 |
| Claim Social Security at 62 | 58 |
| Claim Social Security at 70 | 57 |
Your levers will not match this table unless your inputs match the reference household. Use the sensitivity table in the calculator results for your own numbers; it recomputes each row from what you entered, including a return row that steps your assumed return down by one percentage point.
Taxes: why the same savings buy fewer years
Withdrawals from traditional 401(k) and IRA accounts are taxed as income; Roth qualified withdrawals are not; taxable accounts owe tax on gains. This calculator uses one flat share you choose. In the worked example, 0% tax gives earliest age 56, 10% gives 58, and 20% gives 59. The planner models federal tax plus a flat state rate, Social Security taxation, RMDs and Roth conversions — see the Roth conversion calculator and Roth conversion ladder guide.
Market risk and Monte Carlo, explained
A steady return gives one clean age, but real returns arrive in a random order and a bad start hurts most (sequence-of-returns risk). In the worked example, a 25% drop in the first retirement year moves the earliest age from 58 to 61; retiring at 60 then runs out at 95. Monte Carlo runs many possible return paths and reports how often the money lasts; the Meridary planner runs 1,000 paths. Read Monte Carlo vs historical simulation and will my money last in retirement.
Test these ages with 1,000 market pathsIllustrative stress test, not a forecast or a historical scenario.
How it's calculated
- Real return = (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1, in today's dollars.
- Grow retirement and anytime buckets each working year with contributions until the retirement age you test.
- Apply Social Security at your claim age (SSA factors for FRA 67) and any pension from its start age.
- Each retirement year, withdraw spending plus pre-Medicare health costs, grossed up for your flat tax share.
- Before age 60, only the anytime bucket pays; from 60, anytime first, then retirement accounts.
- The earliest age from today + 1 to 75 that lasts to your plan end age is the estimated earliest retirement age.
What this calculator does not cover
- Real tax brackets, state tax, Social Security taxation, RMDs and Roth conversions
- Many market paths (Monte Carlo)
- A spouse's separate Social Security, survivor benefits, or staggered retirement dates
- The rule of 55, 72(t) or Roth contribution withdrawals as access routes (only an age-60 gate on retirement accounts)
- Part-time work in retirement
- Spending that changes by phase (use the retirement budget calculator)
- A house, mortgage or other debt
- The Social Security earnings test
This calculator vs the Meridary planner
This page compares four retirement ages side by side with a flat tax share and one stress test. The planner adds federal and state tax, account types, RMDs, healthcare estimates and 1,000 simulated market paths on the household you enter.
| This free calculator | Meridary planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Retirement ages | Four ages side by side, plus earliest age and one more year | Compare retirement ages and spending plans, with year-by-year projections |
| Taxes | One flat share of withdrawals | Federal income tax plus one flat state rate, RMDs, Roth conversions |
| Market returns | One steady return and one stress test | 1,000 simulated market paths |
| Social Security | One benefit, claim age 62–70 | One benefit and its taxation; no survivor transition |
| Health care before 65 | Your estimate | Marketplace premiums net of the premium tax credit; Medicare IRMAA from 65 |
| Account access before 59½ | Age-60 gate on retirement accounts | Account types modeled; rule-of-55 option (see the planner's model notes) |
| Two earners | Household totals only | Two-earner wages, each stopping at its own age |
| Accounts | Two totals you enter | Traditional, Roth, taxable, cash, HSA and 529 balances, entered manually; no account linking |
| Price | Free, no signup | $149 founding price (one-time lifetime) or $12/month |
Frequently asked
- When can I retire?
- You can retire when your savings, Social Security and any pension can pay for your spending every year until the end of your plan. For most people in their 30s and 40s, that age depends most on spending, how much you save and investment returns. Retiring before 59½ or 65 also needs a plan for reaching your accounts and paying for health insurance.
- What age can I retire and collect Social Security?
- You can claim Social Security retirement benefits from 62, but the monthly benefit is permanently reduced. For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67, and waiting past 67 raises the benefit by 8% a year until 70. You can stop working at any age; when you claim is a separate choice.
- How do I calculate when I can retire?
- Add up what you have saved and what you will add each year, and grow it at a return you choose. Then, for each retirement year, subtract spending minus Social Security and pensions, plus the tax on withdrawals. The earliest age at which the money lasts to the end of your plan is your estimated retirement age.
- Can I retire at 55?
- Possibly, if your savings can cover at least seven years before Social Security can start at 62 and ten years of health insurance before Medicare at 65. Most 401(k) and IRA withdrawals before 59½ carry a 10% penalty unless an exception such as the rule of 55 or 72(t) payments applies, so savings you can reach any time matter most.
- Is it better to retire at 60, 65 or 67?
- It depends on your numbers and on what those years are worth to you. Each later age adds savings and shortens the years your portfolio must cover. In this calculator's worked example, retiring at 60 leaves about $1.33 million at 95 in today's dollars, 65 about $3.27 million and 67 about $3.87 million, assuming a steady return.
- What does working one more year do to my retirement?
- It adds a year of saving and removes a year of withdrawals, and both keep compounding. In this calculator's worked example, retiring at 59 instead of 58 means $85,211 more saved at retirement, a first-year withdrawal of 6.1% of savings instead of 6.4%, and about $444,000 more left at 95 in today's dollars. Your result depends on your inputs.
- What is one more year syndrome?
- One more year syndrome is the habit of pushing a retirement date back a year at a time, often after the numbers already say you could stop. Seeing exactly what another year adds, in savings and in what is left late in life, can help you decide whether the extra cushion is worth a year of your time.
- Does this calculator include taxes and market risk?
- Partly. It takes a flat share of every withdrawal for tax and runs one stress test, a 25% drop in savings in your first retirement year. It does not apply real tax brackets or simulate many market paths. The Meridary planner adds federal tax, a flat state rate, RMDs, Roth conversions and 1,000 simulated market paths.
- How is this different from Boldin, ProjectionLab or Empower?
- Those are full planners. Boldin says its AI can model your earliest retirement date from your Boldin plan, ProjectionLab builds detailed plans with Monte Carlo, and Empower's free planner lets you test retirement ages inside its dashboard. This calculator needs no account and compares four ages side by side; Meridary's planner then tests your plan in depth.
Social Security: your retirement age is not your claiming age
You can stop working at any age; when you claim Social Security is a separate choice from 62 to 70. Your statement at ssa.gov shows your own estimates. Stopping work early can lower the benefit because it is based on your 35 highest-earning years. Full retirement age depends on birth year: for 1960 and later it is 67 (SSA planner). Claiming before FRA permanently reduces the monthly amount; waiting after FRA adds delayed retirement credits until 70 (delayed retirement). The calculator applies the same SSA factors used elsewhere in Meridary for FRA 67. Use our Social Security break-even calculator to compare claim ages.
Born before 1960? Your full retirement age is between 66 and 67; see SSA's chart by birth year. This page assumes FRA 67 for benefit factors; adjust your estimate if your FRA is lower.