Mar 17, 2025
Making the decision to retire is a big deal, and signifies a major lifestyle change is coming. Let’s say you’re just four months away from your planned retirement, odds are you’ve been gearing up for this next stage and getting everything in order to enjoy your life of leisure for a while now.
You’ve got a decent nest egg and you’re ready to really hone your golf game. What happens, though, if a perfect job comes along in this situation?
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Let’s say you’re offered a position that’s five minutes from your house, with good insurance benefits, no workplace drama or stress, and a good friend who works at the same company and says it’s great.
Oh, and let's say that the job provides just half of your current pay — but the pay is pretty close to what your retirement income would be.
Should you stick with your plan for retiring in this situation or should you take the lower-paying job that allows you to get out of your current work environment sooner, keep insurance coverage for you and your spouse until Medicare age, and delay collecting your retirement benefits to make your money last longer?
Here's what you should consider as you make this decision.
How will taking the new job impact your retirement savings?
When you take a big pay cut, obviously you’re not going to be able to save as much for retirement as you would at your current job. However, with only four months left to go until you stop working, chances are good that you weren’t going to be adding much to your nest egg anyway.
In fact, by delaying when you start drawing from your retirement accounts, and by making sure you don’t have to buy individual insurance coverage for your partner (which Urban Institute reports comes at an average cost of $1,081 per month for a 64-year-old) you can end up in a much better place financially.
Your money can stay invested and keep benefitting from compound growth instead of you beginning to make costly withdrawals. You can also delay claiming Social Security and keep increasing your monthly benefit until as late as 70 years old.
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Waiting until 70 to claim Social Security will increase those benefits alone by 24% compared to retiring at a full retirement age of 67. That’s a big increase, on top of the fact you’ll also be growing your invested funds.
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How much income do you need to live on?
You’ll also need to consider how much income you need to live on. While you said that your new job will provide an income similar to what you’ll earn in retirement, continuing to work rather than being at home can come with added costs.
You may have more commuting expenses, for example, although that should be negligible with the office just five minutes from your house. However, you may also be more likely to buy lunch at work or need costlier work clothing, which can mean you need a little more money.
At the same time, keep in mind that working longer will likely increase the income you eventually have as a retiree. If you have more of a cushion to live on in your later years because you take this new job, you may be better off — especially given the uncertainty about future Social Security benefit cuts and the potential chaos in the stock market that may continue during the Trump era.
Would retirement make you happier than working?
Your happiness matters when it comes to retirement decisions. If you have been looking forward to retirement and don’t want to spend more years working, then you should likely not put off quitting even if the perfect job comes along — especially if you already have enough money to retire.
Surprisingly, though, data suggest early retirement is actually worse for your health, so if you are excited about the new job and it will help you maintain social connections due to your friend being at the workplace, you may be better off sticking it out for a few more years. You can always work on your golf game on the weekends.
You should carefully consider all of these issues as you decide what’s right for you. An unexpected change in circumstances can be shocking when you had plans in place, but it may just end up being a blessing that makes your future retirement a much more enjoyable one.
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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.
