You may have certain things you want to do before 2022 wraps up. Those might include finishing your holiday shopping, finalizing your plans for New Year’s Eve, and leaving your job — for good.
If you’re of retirement age, you may be thinking the time has come to close out your career and embark on that next stage of life. While there’s no particular need to rush that decision, there is something to be said for starting the new year without being tethered to a job.
But should you move forward with retirement in the next few weeks? Or does it pay to push off retirement a few more months or even a few more years? Ask yourself these questions to find out.
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1. What does my savings balance look like?
You’ll need money outside of Social Security to maintain a comfortable lifestyle as a retiree. Before you decide to end your career for good, it’s important to see what your IRA or 401(k) plan balance looks like.
If you’re sitting on $300,000, you may want to work a few more years to boost your savings. But if you have a $1.3 million nest egg, that’s a different story.
Meanwhile, let’s say you had a goal of retiring with $1 million, and your balance is $985,000. It may seem like a small difference — but working a few more months might help you reach that goal between additional contributions and a potential stock market recovery.
2. How are my savings invested?
It’s not enough to see what your IRA or 401(k) balance looks like at this point. It’s also important to see what your asset allocation is within your savings plan.
Right now, a lot of people are sitting on year-to-date losses in their retirement plans due to a general stock market decline. If that’s the case for you, but you have a fair amount of retirement assets outside of stocks, then you may be able to start tapping your IRA or 401(k) without taking tremendous losses.
But if the bulk of your money is tied up in stocks, then now may not be the best time to start taking withdrawals. Doing so could mean locking in permanent losses — and struggling later on in retirement because of that.
3. Am I eligible for my full Social Security benefit?
You’re entitled to your full Social Security benefit based on your personal earnings history once full retirement age arrives. That age is either 66, 67, or somewhere in between — it depends on the year in which you were born.
You may be old enough to start getting money from Social Security. That’s because you can file for benefits as early as age 62.
But for each month you claim Social Security before FRA, your monthly benefit gets reduced. So if your plan is to retire within the next few weeks and start taking benefits right away, you’ll want to make sure you aren’t slashing them in the process — or that you’re at least aware that you’re doing so.
Wrapping up your career could be a nice way to close out 2022. Just make sure to run through these important questions before making that call so you don’t regret your decision after the fact.
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