Your 60s are the decade when financial decisions carry the most weight and allow the least margin for error. Retirement shifts from a distant concept to a cash-flow problem: how much income will you have, how long must it last, and how much of it goes to taxes and healthcare? Here are five moves worth considering now, while there is still time to adjust.
1. Build a Realistic Retirement Income Plan
Start by converting your savings into a monthly income picture. Add up guaranteed income first, Social Security, any pension, then layer in portfolio withdrawals. Most planners suggest modelling a withdrawal rate around 4 percent of savings annually, adjusted for inflation, but the right number depends on your health, your longevity in the family and how much flexibility your spending has.
If the numbers fall short, the highest-leverage lever is often working a little longer. Delaying Social Security, for example, increases the monthly benefit meaningfully up to age 70, a return few investments can match. The Social Security Administration provides personalised estimates that make the trade-off concrete.
2. Get Strategic About Taxes
Your 60s are prime years for tax planning. The stretch between retirement and age 73, when required minimum distributions begin, often creates a window of unusually low taxable income. Many retirees use that window for partial Roth conversions, paying tax now at a lower rate to reduce the forced distributions that arrive later.
Coordination matters: which accounts you draw from first, taxable, traditional, or Roth, changes your tax bill for years. A one-time review with a fee-only adviser can pay for itself many times over, and charitable giving from retirement accounts after age 70 and a half can satisfy distribution rules without triggering tax on the donation.
3. Price Healthcare Before You Retire
Medicare starts at 65, but the gap years before it can be brutally expensive. COBRA or marketplace coverage for a 62-year-old can run several times what an employer plan cost, and subsidies depend on income in ways that reward careful planning. Get real quotes before setting a retirement date.
Beyond 65, budget for what Medicare does not cover well: dental, vision, hearing and, above all, long-term care. A long-term care event is the single biggest threat to many retirement plans, and it is worth getting insurance quotes while you are still healthy enough to qualify.
4. Settle Your Estate While Everyone Is Calm
Estate documents are not only for the wealthy. At a minimum, review your will, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives. Accounts with stale beneficiaries are one of the most common, and most avoidable, sources of family conflict after a death.
Consumer resources such as AARP maintain plain-language checklists for exactly this review, and many families schedule it alongside the annual tax appointment. Our blog regularly covers the intersection of personal finance and life planning for readers approaching retirement.
5. Stress-Test the Whole Picture
Run your plan against bad scenarios: a market drop early in retirement, higher inflation, one spouse living a decade longer than expected. A plan that only works in good times is not a plan. Monte Carlo simulations, available through many free retirement calculators, show the probability your money lasts under hundreds of possible futures.
One More Habit: Review Everything Annually
Financial plans decay. Tax laws change, account balances drift, family circumstances shift, and products that once made sense quietly become expensive. Set a single review date each year and work through your income plan, tax projections, insurance coverage and estate documents in one sitting. Small corrections made annually are far easier, and far cheaper, than rescuing a neglected plan later in a crisis.
None of these moves requires predicting the market. They require knowing your numbers, and your 60s are the best decade to learn them. For more personal-finance coverage written for readers planning what comes next, start at our homepage.