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You might not pay as close attention to your birthdays as you get older, but there are some ages that you need to be paying attention to. On this episode, we’re sharing the most important birthdays in retirement planning. We’ll take you through some of the key ages, why they are important and what you should be thinking about as you approach retirement.

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Show Notes

As you enter retirement, it’s important to celebrate birthdays and pay extra attention to some of them because of how they impact your planning along the way.

Most people are looking ahead to their 60s as the ages that are going to be busiest for retirement, but a lot happens in your 50s. You’ll have to listen to the full show to get all the ages, but let’s start by sharing the key ages in your 50s.

Age 50

You’re a little ways off from retirement at age 50, but this is when some changes start happening. One of the first things is that a lot of your 401k plans or other employer plans will allow a catch-up contribution.

What that means is that they’re allowing you to increase the amount of money that you can contribute to your retirement plan from age 50 for the rest of the years that you’re going to work.

If you’re falling short of your retirement goals, it’s a good way to catch up. That’s why they call it catch up contributions.

Age 55

This is a golden nugget for a lot of people who aren’t aware of this. There’s an IRS regulation called the rule of 55.

If you’re putting money into an employer plan and you quit or you are terminated or you retire, in the year that you turn 55, you have access to that 401k plan or other employer plan without the 10% penalty.

Age 59.5

This is the age that’s on a lot of people’s minds, because this is the age you can pull money out of retirement without a 10% penalty.

Once you turn 60, eyes begin to turn to Social Security and Medicare and there’s a lot of planning that happens when these benefits turn on. Check out the episode to hear Scott break down every important birthday and let us know if you have any questions about how you should be planning.

Listen to the full podcast or use the timestamps below to jump to a specific section. 

[6:47] – Age 50

[12:39] – Age 55

[17:31] – Age 59.5

[20:49] – Age 62

[23:52] – Age 65

[29:04] – 70.5

[30:29] – Age 72

[34:30] – Mailbag: Life insurance

[36:48] – Mailbag: Husband won’t retire

Thanks for checking out this episode. We’ll talk to you again soon.

“If you’re falling short of your retirement goals, it’s a good way to catch up. That’s why they call it catch-up contributions.”

-Scott Sierens