Ten Years Out: Getting Ready for Retirement

The story: Lee and Nora take a test drive

Lee and Nora plan the decade before retirement at home, testing a retirement budget and listing health coverage for the years before Medicare.

1. Narrator: Lee is 54 and hopes to retire in about ten years. Ten years feels like plenty of time.
2. Nora: What if we tried living on our retirement budget for a few months, to see if it works?
3. Narrator: A test drive shows the real gap between what retirement costs and what income will cover.
4. Lee: If I stop working before Medicare starts, how do we pay for health coverage?
5. Narrator: Those are the bridge years. Coverage might come from a Marketplace plan, a partner’s job or retiree coverage.
6. Narrator: They list what else to do: pay down debt, use catch-up room, shift the mix slowly and preview Social Security timing.
7. Nora: Let’s test-drive it now, while we can still change it.

What you’ll learn

1. Test-drive your retirement budget

   Live on your planned retirement budget for a few months and save the rest. You’ll learn whether the number is real, and the extra savings help close the gap. It’s far easier to adjust now than after the paychecks stop.

2. The health-coverage gap

   Medicare usually starts at 65. Stopping work earlier means paying for coverage in the bridge years, through a Marketplace plan, a partner’s job or retiree coverage. Help with Marketplace costs depends on income.

3. Social Security timing and catch-up room

   Your full retirement age depends on your birth year: 67 for people born in 1970. Waiting longer, up to a limit, raises the check. Catch-up rules let people near retirement save more: $8,000 extra in a 401(k).

4. Debt, your mix and where you’ll live

   Paying off debt lowers what retirement income must cover. Shifting your investment mix gradually toward safer holdings can soften a bad market near the finish. Make your long-term care decision, and think about where you’ll want to live.

Key words

bridge years

the years between stopping work and when Medicare or Social Security starts

Medicare eligibility

the age when most people can start Medicare (on the fact card)

Common questions

What is the rule of 55?

If you leave a job in or after the year you turn 55, you may be able to take money from that job’s 401(k) without the early-withdrawal penalty. Plan rules apply.

How do I see my Social Security estimate?

Your Social Security account shows estimates at different claiming ages. The When to Claim lesson in Life After Paychecks compares the choices.

Remember this

Test-drive retirement before you buy it.

Try it: Try three retirement dates

1. Run the public Retirement Calculator with three retirement dates.
2. Write down the monthly gap for each date.
3. List what you’d change to close the gap for the date you like best.

No account needed: the Retirement Calculator is free and public, or try it on the sample household in the demo.

Live facts

Numbers that change over time, with when they were last checked and where they come from.

• Medicare starts at

  65

  The age most people become eligible for Medicare

  As of February 8, 2026

  Source: Medicare.gov(opens in a new tab)

• Full retirement age

  67 (born 1960 or later); 66 and 2 to 10 months (born 1955–1959)

  The age you get your full Social Security check, set by birth year

  As of February 8, 2026

  Source: SSA.gov(opens in a new tab)

• 401(k) catch-up at 50+

  $8,000

  Extra a worker aged 50 or older can add to a workplace plan

  As of 2026

  Source: IRS.gov(opens in a new tab)

• IRA catch-up at 50+

  $1,100

  Extra IRA room for people aged 50 or older

  As of 2026

  Source: IRS.gov(opens in a new tab)

• Marketplace savings for the years before Medicare

  Source: HealthCare.gov(opens in a new tab)