Your sixties are the decade when retirement stops being an abstraction and becomes a plan with dates attached. The decisions made between 60 and 70 — when to claim benefits, how to draw income, how to handle tax and healthcare — can add or subtract tens of thousands over a retirement that may last thirty years. Here are five financial moves worth serious consideration, of the kind we cover in depth at Weekly Business Records.
1. Get the Timing of Retirement Benefits Right
Claiming retirement benefits early locks in a permanent reduction; delaying increases the monthly amount for life. The right answer depends on health, other income and how long you expect to live, but the mistake to avoid is claiming by default rather than by calculation. Run the numbers on at least three claiming ages, and if you are married, model both spouses together, since the higher earner’s decision also sets the survivor benefit. The Social Security Administration publishes calculators and statements that make this modelling straightforward.
2. Build a Deliberate Income Drawdown Order
Most retirees hold money in several pots: taxable accounts, tax-deferred pensions and retirement plans, and tax-free accounts where they exist. The order in which you spend them matters enormously for lifetime tax. A common strategy is to draw taxable assets first, then tax-deferred income, while managing each year’s withdrawals to stay within favourable tax brackets. In low-income years between retirement and mandatory withdrawals, partial conversions of tax-deferred savings into tax-free accounts can reduce the tax bill of your seventies and eighties substantially. This is the single most valuable conversation to have with a qualified adviser, because it is almost impossible to fix retrospectively.
3. Close the Healthcare Gap
Healthcare is the expense retirees most consistently underestimate. If you retire before public coverage begins, bridging insurance must be budgeted explicitly. Even afterwards, premiums, cost-sharing and excluded items such as dental and long-term care add up. Two moves help: first, price your likely healthcare costs into the retirement budget as a separate line rather than a vague allowance; second, review long-term care options while you are in your early sixties, when cover is still obtainable and comparatively affordable. The IRS retirement resources also outline how health savings accounts, where available, can be used tax-efficiently for medical costs in retirement.
4. Stress-Test the Portfolio for the Retirement Risk Zone
The decade either side of retirement is when market falls hurt most, because withdrawals from a shrinking portfolio lock in losses. In your sixties it makes sense to hold several years of planned spending in cash and high-quality bonds, so a downturn does not force you to sell equities at the bottom. This is not about abandoning growth — a thirty-year retirement still needs protection against inflation — but about sequencing. Rebalance deliberately, reduce concentrated positions, and be honest about how much risk you actually need to take to meet your goals. If the plan works with less risk, take less risk.
5. Put the Estate and Paperwork in Order
Estate planning in your sixties is practical rather than morbid. Wills should reflect current family circumstances; beneficiary nominations on pensions and insurance policies should be checked, since they usually override the will; powers of attorney for finance and health should be in place while capacity is unquestioned. Add a simple document trail — where accounts are held, who insures the house, where deeds and policies live — so that family members are not reconstructing your finances in a crisis. Review everything every few years or after any major family change.
The Common Thread
None of these moves is complicated, but all of them reward being done early and deliberately rather than late and under pressure. The same discipline applies in the boardroom: as our analysis of why CFOs demand measurable results shows, outcomes improve when decisions are measured, sequenced and reviewed. Your sixties offer a rare window in which you still have time, health and options. Using that window well is the smartest financial move of all.
