Personal Finance

I'm 52 With $4 Million But I Can't Claim Social Security for 10 Years. Can I Still Retire?

Maurie Backman

Published: March 4, 2025 9:45 am

A lot of people dream of retiring early. And with a large enough nest egg, it can easily become a reality. But it’s important to plan carefully for an early retirement — especially if you’re ending your career well ahead of when you’re eligible to collect benefits from Social Security.

That’s the situation this Reddit poster is in. They’re 52 years old and have about $4 million to their name. They want to keep working for a few more years before slowing down or potentially retiring for good. And they want to know if they have enough savings to manage until Social Security kicks in.

The quick answer is that they may be just fine to retire in their 50s, even if Social Security isn’t available to them for quite some time. But they’ll need to think things through carefully.

The problem with retiring early

There are a few issues that could arise for this poster if they retire early. First, there’s the concern about running out of savings.

If the poster stops working in their 50s, their $4 million nest egg could need to last for 40 years. So they’ll have to be careful about how much money they withdraw from it each year.

That said, the poster mentions they have no mortgage, and that their kids’ college tuition is already saved for. So even if they only withdrawal from their nest egg at a rate of 2.5% per year, that’s still $100,000. They may be able to live comfortably on that if they don’t have that many expenses, though they may also lose a good portion of that $100,000 to taxes.

Of course, the poster will need to make sure they can access their retirement savings penalty-free in their 50s. If they have money in a taxable brokerage account, they’re fine in that regard. But if all of their money is in IRAs or 401(k)s, they may run into an issue with early withdrawal penalties.

The poster should also consider that Medicare coverage won’t be available to them until age 65. So in addition to having to wait a while on Social Security, they’ll also have to cover the cost of health insurance for a decade.

Given their large nest egg and minimal expenses, that may or may not be a problem. But it’s something for them to consider. And they should research health insurance options ahead of time so they know exactly what costs they might be dealing with once they give up their job.

It’s important to get a reality check

The poster here has a lot going for them, but they’re smart to be cautious about retiring early. They don’t want to strain their nest egg too soon, and they also don’t want to end up not enjoying early retirement because they’re scared to spend money. So one thing they should strongly consider is talking to a qualified financial advisor.

A financial advisor can help them figure out if their early retirement plan works, or if it’s too risky. And if they decide to move forward with an early retirement despite being years away from Social Security, an advisor can help set up their portfolio with investments that provide them with income during that “in-between” period.