Retirement Planning

A secure, comfortable retirement is every person’s dream. Since we're living longer, healthier lives, we can expect to spend more time in retirement than our parents and grandparents did. Achieving the dream of a secure, comfortable retirement is much easier when you plan your finances accordingly.

A good place to get ideas about how to start planning for your retirement is with the Social Security Planner on the Social Security website.  Here you can find tools and guides to help you think through this phase of your life. It also points out things you may want to consider as you prepare for the future.

On the Social Security website you can: 

• Find your retirement age
• Estimate your life expectancy
• Use the Retirement Estimator and the other Benefit Calculators to test different retirement ages or future earnings amounts
• Learn about Social Security programs
• Find out what happens if you work after you retire or if you are already a Medicare Beneficiary
• Learn how certain types of earnings and pensions can affect your benefits.

If you are already near retirement age, you can:

• Discover your retirement options
• Get information about how members of your family may qualify for benefits
• Find instructions on how to apply for benefits and what supporting documents you may need to furnish
• Apply for retirement benefits

Close to age 65, you can find out how to apply for just Medicare. You may need to sign up for Medicare close to your 65th birthday, even if you will not be retired by that time.

• Some health insurance plans change automatically at age 65.
• If you are getting Social Security benefits when you turn 65, your Medicare Hospital Benefits will start automatically.