Can you retire at 60?
Check whether your savings reach the number you need by 60, the gap or surplus on that birthday, and the years to Social Security and Medicare you would fund yourself.
To retire at 60 on $60,000 a year, with no Social Security or pension counted, you need
$1,500,000
Saving $3,500 a month from age 50, you reach $1,532,022 at 60: on track, with $32,022 to spare.
Saving $3,298 a month would still get you there by 60.
- Years from 60 to the earliest Social Security age, 62
- 2 years
- Past 59½ your retirement accounts carry no 10% additional tax. When to claim.
A steady return every year, in today's money, with savings added before each year's growth. Taxes, health cover costs and the order in which good and bad years arrive are not modeled; Social Security or a pension counts only if you enter it. The link carries your figures after the #, so you can save or share it. Your figures are not sent to us.
Sixty is past the hardest door
Retiring at 50 or 55 means building a bridge to 59½ out of taxable money, a Roth ladder, a 72(t) series or, if you leave an employer in or after the year you turn 55, that employer's plan under the Rule of 55. At 60 there is no bridge to build: your retirement accounts are open. What is left to fund on your own is health cover until Medicare and the years before you choose to claim Social Security.
Those are shorter stretches, which is why 60 can be the earliest age a regular saver can stop without a complex plan. The number still has to be there; the calculator shows whether it is.
Questions people ask
- Can I retire at 60 with $1 million?
- At a 4% withdrawal rate, $1,000,000 supports $40,000 a year of spending, before tax. If what you spend, including health cover until 65, fits inside that, the number works; Social Security from 62 or later then covers part of it. Enter your own figures to see them against each other.
- Can I take money from my 401(k) or IRA at 60?
- Yes. From 59½ withdrawals from IRAs and workplace plans no longer carry the 10% additional tax. Income tax still applies to traditional (pre-tax) money; qualified Roth withdrawals (the Roth open at least 5 years, and 59½ or another qualifying reason) are tax-free. A 401(k) at a job you still hold may limit withdrawals until you leave.
- When should I claim Social Security if I retire at 60?
- The earliest is 62, with a permanent cut; full retirement age is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, and waiting to 70 raises the benefit further. Stopping at 60 does not force an early claim: your savings can carry the years in between.
- How do I cover health insurance from 60 to 65?
- Usually through a marketplace plan, or COBRA from your last employer, which generally runs up to 18 months. Medicare starts at 65. Marketplace subsidies depend on income: for 2026 the premium tax credit ends above 400% of the poverty line, and withdrawals of traditional (pre-tax) IRA and 401(k) money count as income for them; qualified Roth withdrawals (the Roth open at least 5 years) do not.
Sources: Social Security Administration (claiming ages), 42 U.S.C. §1395c (Medicare at 65) and IRC §72(t) (the additional tax before 59½).