Financial Age Milestones

Under the SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie Grow
Email me at ajs@frii.com
Last update: September 19, 2025

This webpage is a terse (reminders) list of interesting "milestone" ages for older and retired people (in the USA).

Note:

• Some of these are deadlines, while others are earliest-available ages.
• This is purposely a very brief list of reminders. For more information on any topic, web-search on key terms.
• This is not a general (and never-ending) list of possible optimizations in old age that are not tied to specific ages... Search the web for more general suggestions like those.

At (or before or after) age:

• 50: Catch-up contributions to qualified retirement funds like IRAs; plus

  ...join AARP; interesting articles in Magazine and Bulletin, plus some benefits for members.

• 50/55/62/65 (etc): Watch for various "senior discounts", starting at various ages, that you might only get by requesting them. Also have ID ready just in case the vendor needs to check.

• 54.5: Section 72t early distributions (Substantially Equal Periodic Payments = SEPP) allowed from a traditional 401k (for a minimum of 5 years or until age 59.5) now require just 5 more years, if you separate from an employer; but possibly subject to plan-specific rules, such as, one-time-only (all or nothing) distribution (although possibly can be split into multiple checks for distribution of part + rollover the rest).

• 59.5: Tap retirement funds mostly without penalties; one notable exception being conversions or earnings in a Roth IRA if your first rIRA was not opened ≥ 5 years earlier (the "basic 5-year clock", although conversion clocks cease to matter).

• 60: Lock-in year for complex Social Security AWI (Average Wage Index) calculations that affect your AIME (Averaged Indexed Monthly Earnings) and PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) in two ways that hurt you if you hit 60 in a year that starts out with a low unemployment rate but ends up with reduced average wages, say, the 2020 pandemic year. See here for hairy details (offer good while link lasts.)

• 62: Social Security eligibility (with exceptions, such as survivor and disability can be earlier); plus

  ...senior Interagency (parks) pass.

• 65: Medicare signup required (within 3 months of birthday) to avoid lifetime penalties for delaying, unless still qualified-employed (be careful); plus

  ...apply for some senior property tax exemptions (at least in CO and CA, such as the Colorado Senior Property-Tax Program).

• 65-67 depending on birth year: Social Security FRA = Full Retirement Age, but it really doesn't mean all that much; a few benefits do max out at this point.

• 70: Social Security retirement and spousal benefits max out; no point in deferring longer to claim.

• 70.5: Minimum age to make QCDs = qualified charitable contributions from traditional IRAs, meaning tax-free donations (subject to various rules); although mostly of value to offset RMDs once they start at a later age:

• 72/73/75: (depending on age) Must take RMDs = Required Minimum Distributions from pre-tax savings plans (401k, traditional IRA, and similar plans); unless inherited, then in some cases RMDs start sooner.

• Various ages: Other pensions or annuities might have their own date ranges for earliest start (< 100% discount rate) to latest start (maxes out, 0% discount rate, no point in deferring longer to claim).