Can I Retire at 62 in 2027?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger

Episode: Can I Retire at 62 in 2027?
Date: January 19, 2026
Host: Jill Schlesinger, CFP®
Producer/Co-host: Mark
Guest: Sam (Listener from the West Coast)

Overview of the Episode

In this episode, Jill Schlesinger takes a listener call from Sam, a 61-year-old planning to retire at 62 in 2027. Jill breaks down Sam’s financial situation, asks detailed questions about savings, spending, pensions, and Social Security, and ultimately assesses whether Sam and his wife can successfully retire on their timeline. The discussion focuses on drawing down assets, managing multiple income streams, and flexibility in retirement planning, all conveyed with Jill’s usual candor and practical advice.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Listener Profile & Retirement Goals

• Sam’s Age & Employment: 61, still working; wife is 56 and retired for 1.5 years ([06:06-06:32]).
• Income: Sam earns ~$200,000/year plus bonuses ([06:40]).
• Children: Two grown children (26, virtually independent; 22, recently graduated, may attend grad school) ([07:05-07:36]).
• 529 Plan: $181,000 remaining for potential grad school costs ([07:45]).

2. Current Financial Picture

• Household Spending: ~$12,000/month, expected to continue for at least 10-15 years ([08:11-08:29]).
• Assets:
  • Traditional Retirement Accounts: $1.2 million ([08:50]).
  • Roth Accounts: $1.1 million, built via contributions and aggressive conversions ([09:04-09:29]).
  • Brokerage Account: $70,000 ([09:39]).
  • Cash/Savings: $100,000 ([09:53]).
  • Home Value: $1.2–$1.4 million with $223,000 mortgage at 1.99% ([09:59-10:20]).
• No Rental Property or Additional Assets ([10:30-10:36]).

3. Retirement Timeline

• Target Retirement: End of 2026 (Sam will be 62 in 2027) ([13:03-13:25]).
• Pension: $2,600/month (joint survivor option), starting at retirement; no attached health care ([14:20-14:35]).
• Health Care: Will purchase ACA health insurance ([11:10-11:36]).

4. Income Projections & Withdrawal Strategy

• Social Security Projections:
  • Sam: $3,800/month at 67; $5,000/month at 70 ([11:54-12:07]).
  • Wife: $2,400/month at 67; $3,000/month at 70 ([12:09-12:16]).
• Withdrawal Plan:
  • Spend down Sam’s traditional retirement account in the first few years, as he won't have access to wife's funds yet ([13:41-14:00], [15:30-16:32]).
  • Once Sam’s account is depleted, begin tapping wife's retirement accounts and start drawing on Social Security/pension.

5. Can Sam Retire at 62?

Jill’s Assessment:

• "I think this works...you'll have three sources of income, two Social Security checks, a pension...I think you're fine. I think at the end of this year, it looks to me like you're in very good shape." ([16:32]-[17:02])
• Crucial Considerations: Comfort with spending down assets, frontloading withdrawals from Sam's accounts, ability to cut discretionary spending (like vacations) if needed ([16:40-17:02]).

6. Flexibility & Contingencies

• Work Longer if Desired: Working beyond 2026 improves the plan, but not necessary ([17:02]).
• Legacy Goals: If leaving a large legacy becomes a priority, working longer is the lever ([17:16-17:28]).
• Roth Accounts: Intended as a last resort if needed; otherwise, can be preserved for the future ([17:29-17:36]).

7. Other Recommendations

• Estate Planning: Wills and other documents are in place but should be reviewed ([18:18-18:26]).
• Investment Management: Sam manages everything himself and is comfortable continuing to do so ([19:19-19:23]).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “When you say end of the line, I bet you mean retirement—you don’t mean death, right?”
  – Jill ([05:55])
• “[My wife] kind of retired a year and a half ago.”
  – Sam ([06:26])
• “You have the cheapest mortgage in the history of mankind.”
  – Jill ([10:20])
• “Just knowing the pension and the eventual social securities, they just got to be, you know, comfortable spending down for a few years.”
  – Mark ([16:32])
• “If you come back to me and you say...‘We really want to make sure that we leave some massive legacy to our kids’...Don’t do that. But if you want to, then you keep working.”
  – Jill ([17:16])
• “Go give your notice whenever you want.”
  – Jill ([19:23])

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Listener Call Starts (Sam's question): [05:26]
• Detailed breakdown of assets and spending: [06:40]–[10:36]
• Retirement plan simulations & pension discussion: [13:08]–[16:32]
• Jill/Mark verdict on Sam’s retirement plan: [16:32]–[17:02]
• Roth as safety net & estate planning: [17:29]–[18:26]
• Wrap up and closing encouragement: [19:19]–[19:23]

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Planning for early retirement requires clarity on spending needs, asset allocation, and withdrawal strategy.
• Sequential drawdown of assets (spending down one spouse's accounts, then the other's, before tapping Social Security/Roth accounts) can make bridging to full retirement possible.
• Factoring in major expenses (e.g., health care before 65) and being flexible with discretionary spending are crucial.
• Maintaining updated estate documents and comfort with your investment strategy (DIY or otherwise) should not be neglected.

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Tone:
Jill is direct, approachable, and reassuring—balancing technical know-how with plain language and good humor throughout.

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For More

Visit jillonmoney.com to submit your own questions or explore Jill's premium content and subscribe to her newsletter.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Source webinar people are getting in their pre orders for sure. I've seen quite a bit rolling in over the last.

[A]

We better need a lot because for 15 bucks it's going to like we need like how many people would make you happy if you got how many people would you be happy about the first per webinar? What would be the amount be.

[B]

No, I'm happy if one person wants to buy something.

[A]

Stop it. Don't. Don't be ridiculous. What is the number? You know me, I like metrics.

[B]

5,000.

[A]

There's no way you're getting 5,000.

[B]

I just went from one to 5,000 somewhere in between.

[A]

Okay, well if, I mean we have a lot of people who are registered for the whole 45. And I encourage you to do the 45 for the 12 months because it is. We always have great guests. Maybe not every single one, but you're going to get three out of four. Okay. I will be happy if we get for ED slot. I would be so psyched at 500, but I'd be happy at 250. If we get 250 pre orders for ED slot alone, I'd be happy.

[B]

Yeah, well, it's up there now. Anybody can go to the website. You'll see the option. You can. There's an option for the annual subscription. There's an option just for the one off. If you just want to buy ED and have a one time charge, it is up there now and available.

[A]

All right, let's do it. Okay, so that's the business that we have at hand. Today we are joined by Sam on the west coast. Sam, welcome to the Jill on Money show. What can we do for you, sir?

[C]

Hi, Kaylan. Mark, thank you for taking a call. Yeah, we kind of close to the end of the line and then we just want to double check where we're heading and we've been looking for a while now.

[A]

When you say end of the line, I bet you mean retirement. You don't need death, right? Okay, good. All right, just checking on that. Okay. Sam, how old are you?

[C]

61.

[A]

And you are married because I know we spoke to your wife before but she's not coming on the air. But how old is your wife?

[C]

She 57.

[A]

57, 56.

[C]

Sorry, sorry about that.

[A]

Oh, she got him there. She's like, no, I'm 56. Good try, man. Are you both working full time?

[C]

I'm still full time and my wife, she kind of retired a year and a half ago.

[A]

Oh, good for her retirement at 55 and a half. I like that. Retired. Sam, how much do you earn right now?

[C]

200K.

[A]

200?

[C]

Yeah, some bonus and here and there after that. But let's start with the 200k.

[A]

Yeah. Okay, how is that in terms of like being able to support your lifestyle?

[C]

We pretty good when, when our kid was young was a little bit difficult, but now they all grown up a little bit, a lot easier.

[A]

Okay, how old are your kids?

[C]

My old one at 26 now he's, I would say almost 100% launch.

[A]

Okay, 26 is launched next.

[C]

Next one is 22. He just finished his bachelor's degree this year and start working a little bit, maybe return back to school to complete his master degree.

[A]

Oh, my God. Does that mean you have to pay for it? Sure.

[C]

But we have 529. 29. Ready to cover that? Yeah.

[A]

All right, well, that's good. Okay, so it's just the two of them or is there another One?

[C]

That's it. Two is enough.

[A]

So how much is left in the 529 plan?

[C]

529. I think actually about 181.

[A]

All right, so you could do a good chunk of whatever. Unless it's medical school. But you said it's a master's, right?

[C]

Yeah, it's not a medical school. It's going to be a normal public school. Two year and master's degree.

[A]

All right, that seems fine. We got that. I'm good with that. Okay, so now here's my question to you. How much do you spend on that 200,000 that you make?

[C]

Yeah, we've been tracking for a while now. You know, since my kids are young and now they're old enough, we're looking about 12k per month. Obviously, go to retirement. We're probably going to use that number for a while for like, let's say the first 10, 15 years.

[A]

Mm, yeah, let's do that. I think that's smart. So. Oh, I forgot to ask. You said your wife retired a year and a half ago. Does she get a pension?

[C]

She doesn't have any pension.

[A]

No pension. Okay, and tell us a little bit about the money you've saved coming into this year. So, you know, we're in the beginning of the year, so first let's do retirement assets.

[C]

Yeah, for retirement assets, traditional in 403B and 401K or IRA together, about 1.2.

[A]

Okay, great, fantastic. That's traditional. What else?

[C]

And for Roth, for both of us, it's, let's say 1.1 right now.

[A]

Oh, fantastic. You got a lot of money into the Roth. That's fantastic. Did you convert or did you actually contribute?

[C]

We contribute at the beginning and then we trying to. We did a aggressively conversion about probably 3, 4, 5 year. Wow, that's 50. 50.

[A]

That's really good. That's really good. So do you have, in addition to those retirement assets, do you have any brokerage account assets?

[C]

Yes, the brokerage accounts, about 60,000 or 66, let's say 70,000 right now.

[A]

Traditional Roth brokerage cash, like just money market, high yield savings, that kind of stuff.

[C]

About 100k.

[A]

Great. Do you own your home? A house?

[C]

We right now AT evaluation, probably 1.2 to 1.4. I think it's close to 1.4 now.

[A]

Okay. Welcome to the West Coast. Right. Do you have a mortgage that remains?

[C]

Yeah, the mortgage right now. About that, say 223 with the 1.99 rate.

[A]

What? Oh, my goodness. That's so good. Oh, my God. Okay, Any rental property, Sam?

[C]

None.

[A]

None. Any other assets that we are not considering right now?

[C]

I think that's all we have. Yeah.

[A]

61 and 56. 200 grand of income. Maybe that's a little more. There's money. Well, I'm not going to consider the masters. I'm going to kind of put that aside. You spend 12 grand a month. You want to retire right now or do you. Is there a. Is it a bit in the future? Like, where are you right now?

[C]

Yeah, I'm looking 62 or 65, but preferred preferable. 62.

[A]

No kidding. Don't. That's. That's the. And what would you do for health care? Would you buy it? Do you have availability?

[C]

We were thinking go to buy. Yeah, go ACA or something else. Yeah, sure.

[A]

To g. I mean. And that's why you're saying leave the spending at that higher level of 12 grand a month, because obviously your wife's so young that, you know, she's. We're going to have to do health care with for her till 65. So, you know, nine years of health care is for real, right?

[C]

Yes. Yeah, you're right.

[A]

So the 12 grand a month does. Includes your health insurance?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. Is there anyone else you have to take care of? Is there an older relative? Anyone else besides the kids?

[C]

No. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Have you looked at your Social Security benefit, Sam, for your, like, age 67 or 70?

[C]

Yeah, for me, 67. It's 3798.

[A]

I'm calling it 3800. Thank you. And what about at age 70?

[C]

70. Let's say five grand. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. And what about for your wife?

[C]

Same question for my wife. 67 at 24.

[A]

And what's hers at? 70?

[C]

70 at three grand.

[A]

And are you guys both in good health?

[C]

I believe we are.

[A]

Knock wood or something. Okay, please. So if we look at your game plan here, let's say you work for another year. How much money are you putting into retirement at this point?

[C]

I kind of stopped last year, but I go back again for full Roth. Maximum Roth for this year, 2026.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And maybe 2027, we think.

[A]

All right, let's just do it for this one more year. So we're going to try to say what happens if at the end of this year you give Your notice so that next year when you're 62, you're done. Isn't that the game plan? That's what you want, right?

[C]

Yeah, I think end of 2027.

[A]

Oh, you're going to go to the end of 27. I was going to only do the end of this year.

[C]

Yeah. No, let's say 2026 and the 2026. Yeah, because they ended 26.

[A]

Come on, you can always stay longer. So end of 26, you're done. Now what happens? You'll turn 62 in 2027, right?

[C]

Correct.

[A]

Okay, so let's just say we've got five years where we have to make sure that in your pocket you don't really need to make 200,000, but you have to clear that $12,000 a month. Right?

[C]

Correct. Yes.

[A]

Okay, so we do have to pull from $200,000 a year out of your retirement account. And I would do it out of that traditional account that hasn't been taxed. So that you said, I've got 403. Is that mostly in your name, the 403B, the IRA, the traditional.

[C]

Well, just in my name, yeah. 600.

[A]

Oh, good.

[B]

Does the 403B mean there's a pension somewhere?

[A]

I asked if there was a pension. Right.

[C]

I was about to say that.

[A]

Oh, you have a pension.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Hold on a second. Hold on a second. So at the end of 2026, you give your notice. What is your pension benefit at that.

[C]

Time would be $2,600. This is like a joint survivor.

[A]

Yep. So $2,600 a month is your. Would be a pension. But you don't have any access to health care with that pension?

[C]

Not at all.

[A]

Okay. Okay, fair enough. What we need to do is you have some pension and then you've got about half of that traditional money. Of that 1.2, you have another 600,000 that's in your name. So basically we could essentially have you take money out of your 403. We could empty out that 600k, maybe take out 100. I don't know, $80,000. Ish. Maybe it's 170 for a couple. You know, get that money out and you're gonna live on that for as long as it lasts. And then at that point, I think you, you've come in a little bit shy just based on the money. We have other money that we have to think about, but we can't touch your wife's account because she's so young for three years. So here's how it goes. I think three years where we use. Three to four years where we empty out your account. She's then 59 and a half, right. Then we look at her account, right? And we start pulling money out of that account. Then you're claiming Social Security. So it's your Social Security, your pension, still pulling some money out of her traditional assets to make up the difference. Right. And then eventually she gets to collect Social Security. And really what ends up happening, I think, is that you don't touch your Roth and that you're living on that ultimately. And you have three forms of income, which is, I'm doing it at 67 and we may be able to do it at 70, but let's look at 67 for a second, which is $8,800 a month in income. Eventually it'll be all inflated, and then you've got your Roth to make up the difference for the 12k. I think this works. Mark, doesn't this work?

[B]

It works. Just knowing the pension and the eventual social securities, they just got to be, you know, comfortable spending down for a few years.

[A]

How do you feel about that?

[C]

Yeah, I think we pretty much flexible the 12K. We're thinking that we're going to use that as if in the event that it's short a little bit, we're going to cut because we reserve vacation, like close to 30 grand per year. So, I mean, we have a room to maneuver that.

[A]

But I don't even think you're going to have to. You have a lot of money. I mean, the way that this gets even better is that, you know, the longer you work, if all of a sudden you're like, well, it's not the end of 26, it's not the end of 27. Let me do 28. Like, obviously, the more Runway you have it working paying for this, but I think you're fine. I think at the end of this year, it looks to me like you're in very good shape. You know, you'll have three sources of income, two Social Security checks, a pension that's going to make up a good chunk of your need. As long as you are willing to spend down that traditional accounts, yours first, followed by your wife's, you're fine. But if you come back to me and you say to me in a year, oh, well, actually, you know, we really want to make sure that we leave some massive legacy to our kids. And we're going to keep working because we want it. Don't do that. But if you want to, then you keep working. Right now I feel comfortable with the game plan. The Roth money is there if they need it. He can keep putting money in the Roth. You have the cheapest mortgage in the history of mankind. It seems like you have a ton of equity in your house. If you decide you want to move that, that's fine. But I think you're in great shape. Do you guys have your estate documents done?

[C]

Yeah, we had for a long, long time when our kid was young. Probably moving forward, we have to revise that or review that.

[A]

Unless you tell me that you have to spend a whole chunk of your money because your kid, who is getting the master's, is now getting a doctorate and you want to help that. Like, if you start spending a lot of money on these 20 somethings, it's not going to work so well. But if you're willing to spend down the money you've saved in those traditional assets, empty those out over time, really plan on that. I mean, just in my mind, it's like to make the leap, one of the things you can say to yourself is, we're kind of turning the traditional assets into another pension. You're going to use that money to fund the difference.

[C]

That's it.

[A]

And then you're golden. I'm pretty sure. Like again, as long as these assets continue to grow, as long as you don't make big changes in your spending and it sounds like you've padded the numbers a little bit, it seems really good. What else? What else? Are you managing all your money yourself?

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And that's fine, right?

[C]

Yeah, we feel comfortable with that. Yeah.

[A]

Great, great. Go give your notice whenever you want. Good luck. And if you are contemplating a change and you want to get a little sense of where you stand or you've got a new job offer or something is changing in 2026, get in touch with us. Go to jillandmoney.com, click the contact us button. Let us know if you'd be willing to come on the air by checking the box. While you're on the website, don't forget to sign up for the free weekly newsletter. It comes out every single Friday. You can subscribe to to us on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcast. Hey, you can also subscribe to Money Watch, our sister broadcast. That is our weekend podcast. It's fabulous. Leave a rating and review wherever you listen. And of course, try to put your hands metaphorically on someone's back. Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening and we'll talk to you tomorrow. This year Give a gift that goes far beyond the moment. An Invest 529 account whether it's a child, grandchild, or someone just starting out, you're helping them save for education that can open doors for a lifetime. Invest529 is a tax advantaged way to save for college, trade school, or even apprenticeship programs. It's flexible, easy to start, and you can contribute any amount, big or small. And because the money can grow tax free, it's a gift that really builds value over time. So instead of giving something that gets used up or set aside, give the gift that can change a Life. Start an Invest529 account today. Go to invest529.com to get started hey.

[C]

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[A]

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[B]

I've been turning down interviews all week. Coda Copy reached out Oprah George Stephanopoulos so I said no. I was booked on the Deitch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility.

[A]

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