Mar 28, 2025
When you lose your job at 61, you're in a tough spot. You likely don't want to look for work, you’re not eligible for Social Security until you’re 62 and raiding your retirement savings is less than ideal.
In your case, bridging the gap with only $103,000 in retirement savings puts your future at risk, even if you start collecting Social Security benefits early at 62 instead of 67. You need to make big changes now.
Don’t eke it out to retirement thinking Social Security will save you
If you draw down your retirement savings too early, you won't have enough invested to earn returns. Experts recommend a safe withdrawal rate of 4% of your retirement savings which, in your case, would mean taking out just $4,120 per year — or $343 a month.
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Since you have to pay $21,600 in annual mortgage payments along with basic expenses like food, utilities, transportation, and health insurance, $4,120 won’t cut it — especially now that you’re laid off and don’t have an employer to help with health insurance premiums.
Draining your retirement savings could leave you with nothing but Social Security to live on — but those benefits are only meant to replace 40% of your pre-retirement income, not your entire salary.
Worse still, claiming Social Security early at 62 would reduce your benefits for life due to a pentalty for early claims. If you don't want that to happen, you need to follow your plan and wait six years until full retirement age 67.
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You may have to go back to work
Bridging the gap till you can collect Social Security isn’t your biggest concern. Rather, you should be concerned about how you’ll pay for 30 or more years of retirement.
As disappointing as it may be, you might need to find a new job and work for several more years to build your nest egg, qualify for your full Social Security benefit and become eligible for Medicare to help pay for health insurance.
Since Medicare becomes available at 65, your full retirement age is 67, and you can increase Social Security benefits until age 70, consider working four to nine more years depending on how aggressively you can save to afford a comfortable retirement.
It's better to use this time to find work than spend your savings too fast, claim Social Security too young, and find yourself without the funds you need to live on after you have been out of the workforce for a while.
If you can’t go back to work, consider a reverse mortgage or downsizing your home to free up more money to invest and lower your mortgage costs. Unfortunately, such options are only reasonable if you have a lot of equity in your home.
Your best and only real chance at a secure future may be getting back in the workforce. So, start looking at your options today.
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Christy Bieber has 15 years of experience as a personal finance and legal writer. She has written for many publications including Forbes, Kilplinger, CNN, WSJ, Credit Karma, Insurify and more.
