5–10 years out
The most financially consequential window in retirement planning. The decisions you make in this stretch — on Social Security, Medicare, location, and income — are hard to undo. Here's what deserves attention.
Five to ten years out is where retirement planning gets real. The horizon is close enough to see clearly, decisions have meaningful consequences, and there’s still enough runway to course-correct if something needs to change. It’s also the window that most people underuse — waiting until the last year or two to think seriously about questions that benefit from years of consideration.
The work at this stage is less about saving and more about shaping: understanding what retirement will actually look like, and making decisions that will be hard to change once they’re made.
Where to focus
1. Understand the Social Security decision before it arrives
For most people, the window to claim Social Security opens at 62. That’s soon. The decision — when to claim, and in married households, how to coordinate two benefit timelines — is one of the most consequential and least reversible choices in retirement. Claiming early produces a permanently reduced benefit; delaying produces a permanently higher one. The math depends on health, other income, and longevity expectations.
The real cost of claiming Social Security at 62 explains how early claiming works, what the reduction looks like in real numbers, and why the decision deserves more careful thought than most people give it.
2. Get serious about healthcare costs
Healthcare is the #1 financial worry among retirement-age adults, according to 2026 surveys — and for good reason. Medicare, which most people assume will take care of it, covers significantly less than expected. Dental, vision, hearing, and long-term care all fall largely outside its scope. A couple retiring today may need $330,000 or more set aside for healthcare costs alone.
Healthcare in retirement: what Medicare covers, what it doesn’t, and what that gap actually costs explains how Medicare is structured, where the gaps are, and how to think about the enrollment decisions that are coming.
3. Make a plan for long-term care while you still have options
Long-term care insurance becomes more expensive and harder to obtain as you age. Conditions that develop in your late 60s can make you uninsurable entirely. The 5-to-10-years-out window is generally the last practical window to evaluate private insurance options at manageable cost.
Long-term care: the retirement cost nobody plans for covers the costs, what Medicare doesn’t cover, and the four main approaches to planning for it.
4. Figure out where you’re going to live
If a move is part of the retirement plan — to a lower-cost state, closer to family, a different climate — this is the time to start seriously researching rather than dreaming. State taxes are one piece of the picture, but not the only one.
State taxes in retirement: the full picture beyond “no income tax” covers how to build a real tax comparison across states, including income, property, sales, and estate taxes.
How to test a retirement location before you commit covers why a vacation isn’t the same as knowing whether a place actually fits, and what actually reveals whether a destination will work long-term.
5. Start building the income plan
A retirement income plan isn’t just a target number — it’s a map of where income comes from in each year, how accounts get drawn down in what order, and how different income streams interact with taxes. Building that plan now, while there’s still time to adjust savings and account allocation, is far more productive than building it in the year before retirement.
Withdrawal strategy basics: which account to draw from first explains how the sequencing of account withdrawals affects tax burden and portfolio longevity — and why it matters more than most people realize.
What’s next
When you’re 1–3 years out, decisions move from planning to execution: finalizing your income plan, confirming Medicare enrollment timing, and preparing for the emotional and identity dimensions of the transition. → 1–3 years out
Not sure this is the right stage for you? Take the 2-minute quiz to find your starting point.