Retire at 60 Calculator

To retire at 60 spending $60,000 a year, you need about $1,500,000 invested at the standard 4% withdrawal rate. If Social Security will pay you $26,000 a year starting at 67, that drops to about $1,032,000, even after setting aside enough to cover the seven years before your first check.

Is 4% safe if you retire at 60?

For most people, yes. William Bengen’s 1994 paper, where the 4% rule comes from, found that a 4% first-year withdrawal from a half-stock, half-bond portfolio never ran out in less than 33 years of U.S. market history. From 60, that’s 93. He advised clients to stay at or below 4% in the early years, “especially if they retire early (age 60 or younger).” The Trinity Study found 4% lasted through 95% of past 30-year periods for a 50/50 portfolio and 98% for 75% stocks.

That’s why this page uses 4%, where the retire at 50 page uses 3.5%. Here’s what each rate means in dollars:

I’d drop to 3.5% at 60 only if you’re married and planning for the survivor to live to 95 or beyond, or if you have no Social Security or pension at all. I wouldn’t go above 4%.

Social Security changes the number more at 60

At 50, Social Security is so far off that it barely moves your target. At 60, it’s two to seven years away and can cover a big share of your spending. Here’s the portfolio you’d need at 60 to spend $60,000 a year, if your statement shows $26,000 a year at 67:

Each row divides the spending the benefit doesn’t cover by 4%, then adds the full benefit for every year between retiring and claiming, assuming that money earns nothing after inflation. That’s a cautious way to fund the gap.

The 30% cut at 62 applies to anyone born in 1960 or later, whose full retirement age is 67. The 75% row is a hedge. The 2026 Trustees Report projects that the retirement trust fund runs out of reserves in late 2032, after which incoming taxes would pay about 78% of scheduled benefits unless Congress acts. Congress has several ways to close that gap, and nobody knows which one it will pick. I’d rather plan around a cut than assume it can’t happen.

How much do you need invested now to coast to 60?

With $60,000 of spending, 7% returns, 3% inflation and a 4% withdrawal rate, this is what you’d need today to stop contributing and still hit the number at 60:

When would Teresa reach Coast FIRE?

Teresa is 46, has $400,000 invested and puts in $2,000 a month. She wants to retire at 60 on $60,000 a year. Her Social Security statement shows about $26,000 a year at 67.

Ignoring Social Security, her Coast FIRE number is $879,913 and she never crosses it. Even contributing every month until 60, she’d have about $1,125,000, well short of $1,500,000. That’s what the calculator above shows, because it doesn’t know about her benefit.

Count the benefit and the picture changes:

If I were Teresa, I’d plan on the 75% row. Under it she never reaches Coast FIRE, and even contributing until 60 she’d finish about $24,000 short. Raising her contribution to $2,500 a month fixes that, and she’d cross the line at 57. That costs her $500 a month more than the full-benefit plan, but it doesn’t depend on Congress, and if the whole benefit does arrive, it’s extra room.

What’s still in the way at 60?

The early withdrawal problem is gone. The 10% additional tax only applies before 59½, so your 401(k), 403(b) and IRAs are open. You’ll still owe income tax on pre-tax withdrawals. None of the workarounds on the retire at 55 or retire at 50 pages matter to you.

One small trap is left. Roth IRA earnings come out tax-free only in a qualified distribution, which requires five years since your first Roth IRA contribution as well as being 59½. Your contributions can come out anytime. If you’ve never had a Roth IRA, opening one with a small contribution while you still have earned income starts that clock.

If you’re still working at 60, you also get the biggest 401(k) catch-up there is. For 2026, anyone who is 60 to 63 by the end of the year can add $11,250 on top of the regular $24,500 401(k) limit. That’s where my strongest opinion on this page comes from: if you’re on the fence between 60 and 62, the two extra years are worth more than they look. That’s up to $71,500 in contributions, two fewer years of drawing on the portfolio, and a Social Security bridge that shrinks from seven years to five.

Five years until Medicare

Medicare starts at 65, so retiring at 60 means five years of buying your own coverage. COBRA can keep your employer’s plan for up to 18 months, at the full premium plus 2%. That gets you to about 61½. The remaining three and a half years are usually a Marketplace plan, and in your 60s you’re near the top of the age curve: insurers can charge older enrollees up to three times as much as younger ones.

Subsidies are based on income, so how you fund those years matters. Living on cash and Roth money while you’re on a Marketplace plan keeps your taxable income down, while big 401(k) withdrawals push it up. Our guide to health insurance before 65 walks through the numbers. Whatever you do, don’t leave health insurance out of the $60,000.

What working until 60 does to Social Security

Less than people fear. Your benefit is based on your highest 35 years of earnings. If you started working in your early 20s, you’ll have roughly 35 or more years by 60, so stopping doesn’t add zeros to the average. What you give up is the chance to replace a few low-earning years from your 20s with higher ones.

The bigger decision is when to claim. Claiming at 62 shortens the bridge but shrinks the check by 30% for the rest of your life. In Teresa’s table, it moves her Coast FIRE age later, not earlier, because a permanently smaller benefit costs more than two fewer bridge years save.

Where this breaks

The calculator assumes a steady 7% return. Real markets don’t cooperate, and the years right after you stop working matter most, since you’re selling investments to live on and have no paycheck to refill them. If you retire at 60 into a bad market, cutting spending for a year or two does more good than almost anything else. Before you get there, the Monte Carlo calculator shows how often a plan like Teresa’s reaches its number by 60 when returns vary.

Planning a different age? Retire at 40, Retire at 45, Retire at 50, Retire at 55.For the years before 59½, see the rule of 55 calculator.