I would keep working the extra year. Unless you hate your job, it doesn’t really hurt you, and the cognitive and social aspects of working are a real thing.
I vote for retire at 65. Life is short and it’s shorter when you are over 60. Mrsin and I have known way too many people who died shortly after retirement and had no chance to enjoy it. It’s also nice to be able to retire while you are still reasonably physically fit.
I retired at 57.5 and Mrsin retired at 60 and we have had a blast ever since. We both angsted about pulling the plug but it’s turned out great. The first year is the hardest until you realize that you can survive without that paycheck. I suggest you look at your paycheck and note how much goes to medicare and social security. That money is not taken out of your pension check or your social security check. We have not touched our 401k’s or savings and he receives his first social security check, at 62, next month w00t!
You can get the same type of cognitive and social aspects of working by volunteering and being active in your community. Works for us:)
This is a very good point that I had not thought of. I will also not be taking out anything to put into my 401(k). That could make a large difference too.
I’ve been safe and boring all my life. I am really leaning towards retiring sooner than later (but I have to give the idea time to percolate still).
Other thoughts on either side are still very welcome.
Shoot, we are both engineers, the epitome of safe and boring:) It’s scarey to pull the plug. Check out the Bogleheads forum and [Early retirement](Early retirement) forums, even though you are not retiring early.
This is what I was going to suggest - a couple of people in my workplace have started working half-time in preparation for their retirement, and they seem to be having a great time. It makes the transition a bit smoother between working all the time and then suddenly not having a job - and gives you time to set up things like volunteering if you’re interested in things like that. if it’s possible with the kind of job you do, I think it would be worth considering.
In my view, retiring is all about being able to afford it. Most people prefer to only retire once - if you retire early, and then find you actually haven’t got enough income/capital to see out the rest of your life, it can be hard to go back. Of course, some people choose to go back to work because they want to, but let’s leave that off the table for the purpose of this discussion.
So, it sounds like you think you can afford to take the plunge now. But that extra year working gives you a quite significant percentage increase in your annual income (I assume). Yes, generally speaking you get more out of Social Security overall the earlier you take it (as the extra years of drawing it more than offset the reduction), but if you’re in good health and don’t hate your job, a year is not that long really. Especially if without it, you might spend the first several years of your retirement worrying about if you have enough cash. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it!
Also, double-check your calculations. Then check them again. Then, if at all possible, have someone else check them. I say this because I recently helped my dad with this kind of decision. He had double-deducted a part of his income when comparing pre-retirement income with post-retirement income, which made him seem a lot worse off post-retirement than he actually was. Correcting this made a significant difference!
I retired nearly 3 years ago, and I wish I’d hung around a few more years. It seemed like a good idea at the time and it has been doable, but finances would be a wee bit less tight had I stayed on the job and built up my 401k more. Plus it turns out retirement can be really boring - I’ve had 3 temp jobs in the last 3 years. Honestly, if I had it to do over again, I’d have kept working.
On the other hand, when the weather is crappy or I get involved in a TV show that has me up late or if I just don’t feel like doing anything, I don’t have to worry about the job cramping my style. 
And we had paid down just about all of our debt, plus refinanced our mortgage and did some major work on the house while I was still employed, so we’re good as far as the roof, furnace, windows, and well are concerned. I’m pretty sure we won’t be living in a refrigerator box under and overpass, but I’d sure like to take a cruise to Antarctica…
I quit at 62. The primary reason was because I was burned out and becoming a walking heart attack and hated my job. The loss in SS was more than offset by what we had in the bank, so it was a no-brainer. As it turns out, SS and the small retirement amounts we have coming in from various other jobs is plenty of money and we’ve yet to touch savings. Everyone’s situation is different and you just have to do your own cost/benefit analysis.
Fair point. And so far I have only been looking at the gross income in any detail; based on Sinjin’s post I will now be trying to estimate net income, and since I am sort of obsessive about that kind of thing, I will do it very carefully!
These are the words I noticed. Keep working the extra 52 weeks. Be financially ready to purchase your own smart phone as the retirement date nears. Ward off the boredom with detailed plans for retirement. Best wishes.
Because you don’t have a plan for what you want to do after retirement, I’d work another year. Then I’d enjoy the hell out of that extra $3600 per year by planning a nice vacation every year.
One thing I don’t see you considering is the income from the year of working itself. Presumably you would be making more money during this year working than you would by retiring, and this excess would itself add to your retirement savings.
I believe studies show that a lot of people - especially men - have a hard time of it when retiring. When you’re working you think of all the things you want to do if you had the time, but when you actually retire you might feel an emptiness. But it varies a lot by person.
That’s because the work itself is not rewarding in retrospect. But there are a lot of people who would have made their lives better in other ways (less stress in their lives, better relationships with their families etc.) had they worked harder and had more money.
Don’t wait. You don’t know what the future will bring and it sounds like financially you can afford to retire right now. Extra money is always good, but time is priceless.
But where you live makes my exurb look like a thriving downtown. Of course it’s boring there! 
One thing I’ve seen people recommend is to start living as if you were retired in terms of expenses. Some things like 401 contributions and social security you won’t be paying any more, so take that into account.
I’m just about where you are. Since my wife is on my benefits, I’m going to delay liek 10 months after 65 so we can both go on Social Security - absent an expected eventually but unexpected at any time cash influx. I’ve got plenty in my 401K and an annuity I got from a pension buyout kicks in at 65, so I’ll have no trouble waiting until 66 or even later.
My father lived to 95 and her father is still going at 98 so I have to plan for the long haul.
Thank you to everyone who offered their perspective on this issue. You provided some wonderful advice and tips in here on this topic, which I’m sure will be interesting to boomers anywhere.
I have made my decision, which is that i will retire this year but not immediately after my birthday, instead it will be two months after that (end of October). This gives management almost six months to find people for me to train up in what I do, or to decide that certain activities don’t need doing any more. Also, if they feel at some earlier point that I’ve done all the training they need, I can leave up to two months earlier (hint: I don’t expect this to happen).
I will tell my boss on Monday of my intention, although I will not file any official paperwork until about a month before the date.
Thank you again to everyone who posted; even if I didn’t exactly follow your advice to the letter, I did consider it.
Congratulations! I just stumbled on this thread so didn’t contribute, but I think you made the right decision (this coming from a guy who is retiring this year at age 55!)
Another option to consider is consulting to where you used to work, if that is possible. I have that option if I want–to consult for other firms I used to work at, but I doubt I will take it.
For me–it boiled down to the reality, that the money sounds nice but the reality was that I would rather have that time, with my wife and my family and, well me.
That is good advice and the plan I would pick. Not only would you have additional retirement income from at least two sources, you could also also use the extra year to do some extra planning about what you really want to do when you retire. I am only 40 and I may get to retire really early but I would be in a panic if someone called and told me that I could retire for good in 3 months. I don’t have anything planned for that yet.
Working isn’t always great but it does provide life structure. I would want a transition period to really plan things through. An extra year isn’t a very long time for that. You also get a triple bonus of extra money from two sources plus another year of not having to tap your retirement funds. I would stay the extra year and plan your goals out really well at the same time.
Congratulations!
I was going to say that no one ever regretted retiring early.
Plenty of people have and lots of people have been severely burned by getting it wrong. It is good the OP is at least asking for input and thinking through the situation because that is more than many people do. Early(er) sounds good until you realize that you may live to be 85, 90 or over 100 and the decisions you make now will impact the quality of your life for the next few decades, not just years. I have close relatives that are going through this calculus now as well and I advised all of them to keep working for additional years for lots of different reasons.