For decades, retirement can feel like a lifetime away. You contribute to retirement accounts, build savings, pay the mortgage, raise a family, and keep working. Then suddenly, retirement isn’t 20 or 30 years down the road. It might be five.

Those final working years can also be some of the most financially complicated. You may be earning more than ever while helping adult children, caring for aging parents, welcoming grandchildren, managing greater responsibilities at work, and wondering whether you’ve saved enough. That’s why the final stretch isn’t simply about putting aside as much money as possible. It’s about making sure the retirement you’ve been planning still fits the life you’re actually living.

Your Peak Earning Years May Also Be Your Peak Responsibility Years
For many people, their late 50s and early 60s bring an unusual financial combination. Income may be near its peak, but there may also be more people and priorities competing for it.

You might be:

• Helping an adult child get established.
• Paying or helping with college expenses.
• Caring for an aging parent.
• Spending more on healthcare.
• Supporting or enjoying grandchildren.
• Carrying more responsibility at work.
• Trying to save aggressively for retirement.

With that many demands competing for the same paycheck, “save more for retirement” can sound much easier than it truly is.

The advantage you have right now is that you’re still earning employment income. Rather than viewing retirement as a switch you’ll eventually flip, use these remaining working years as a transition period.

A simple Final-Stretch Retirement Checkup can help you decide where to focus.

PLAN: Does Your Retirement Plan Still Fit?
Start by revisiting the plan itself. Maybe you worked with a financial advisor years ago and established a retirement age, savings goal, and expected lifestyle. Or perhaps you’ve been contributing consistently without ever putting a detailed plan on paper.

Either way, retirement looks different when it’s five years away instead of 25.

Ask yourself:

• When do I realistically hope to retire?
• What income sources do I expect to have?
• What might my monthly expenses look like?
• Will I still have a mortgage or other debt?
• What do I actually want to do with my time?
• Am I still financially supporting other people?
• What happens if I need to retire earlier than expected?

You don’t need one magical retirement number. You need a plan based on the golden years you’re hoping to live.

Working with a qualified financial professional can help you review those assumptions, identify potential gaps, and decide what adjustments make sense while you still have employment income.

SAVE: Are You Making the Most of These Earning Years?
Once you know what you’re preparing for, look at how you’re saving for it.

Tax rules allow many people approaching retirement to make additional “catch-up” contributions to certain tax-advantaged retirement accounts after reaching specified ages. Depending on your age, account type, workplace plan, and financial situation, those provisions may create opportunities to save more during your final working years.

Rather than trying to memorize annual limits and tax rules, review your options with a financial advisor or tax professional. Find out which opportunities apply to you and whether increasing contributions makes sense within your broader plan.

Also pay attention to what happens when income increases. A raise, bonus, or promotion can easily become additional spending money without ever feeling like a conscious decision.
If your budget allows, directing part of those increases toward retirement can help turn some of your highest-earning years into some of your strongest saving years.

HEALTHCARE: Do Future Medical Costs Have a Place in the Plan?
Healthcare doesn’t disappear when employment income does. In fact, it may become a larger part of the retirement budget.

If you’re eligible for a Health Savings Account, or HSA, it may be one tool for preparing for future qualified healthcare expenses. HSAs offer significant tax advantages, allow unused balances to carry forward, and generally allow eligible individuals age 55 and older to make additional “catch-up” contributions.

That doesn’t mean everyone should avoid using HSA funds today. If you need the account to cover qualified healthcare expenses now, that’s what it’s there for.

The larger question is whether future healthcare has a strategy of its own. Retirement planning shouldn’t assume medical expenses will somehow fit into whatever money is left over or that Medicare will cover everything.

HOUSING: Are You Still Planning Around the Same Home?
Housing is a great example of why retirement plans need periodic updates.

Maybe your plan has always included selling the family home and downsizing. Years ago, that may have seemed obvious. Now the picture could look different.

Adult children may have moved home. Grandchildren may visit regularly. An aging parent may need space. Or you may just love your home and decide you don’t want to leave it.

What matters is whether your financial plan reflects the choice you’re actually making.

If downsizing is still part of the plan, research what that might realistically accomplish after considering:

• Remaining mortgage debt
• Selling & moving expenses
• The cost of a replacement home
• Property taxes & insurance
• Maintenance & association fees
• Potential tax considerations

If you’ve decided to stay, update the plan accordingly. A larger home may mean different maintenance, utility, insurance, and property tax expenses than your old retirement assumptions assumed.

A retirement plan built around downsizing only works if selling your house is still the plan.

FAMILY: How Much Help Can You Afford to Give?
This can be one of the hardest parts of the final stretch.

You may want to help an adult child through a difficult period, contribute toward a wedding or home, support aging parents, or create special experiences for grandchildren. Helping family can be an important use of your money.

But as retirement gets closer, the question changes.

Instead of asking, “Do I have enough money to help?” ask, “Can I provide this help without putting my own retirement at risk?”

Someone in their 20s or 30s may have decades of earning years ahead of them. Someone approaching retirement has fewer opportunities to replace savings or make up several years of missed retirement contributions.

Setting boundaries doesn’t mean you stop helping the people you love. It means your own retirement becomes part of the decision.

Protecting your financial future can protect your family, too. If you exhaust the resources you’ll need later, the people you’re helping today may eventually be asked to support you.

INVESTMENTS & DEBT: What Will Follow You into Retirement?
As retirement gets closer, review both sides of your financial picture - what you’ve accumulated and what you still owe.

For investments, avoid assuming that approaching retirement automatically means eliminating risk. Retirement could last decades, so long-term growth may still matter. At the same time, money you’ll need sooner may require different considerations than money you won’t need for many years.

Work with your financial advisor to review whether your asset allocation, diversification, risk level, and expected withdrawals still fit your timeline and goals.

Then look at your debts:

• Mortgage
• Auto loans
• Credit cards
• Personal loans
• Other recurring debt payments

There is no universal rule that you must enter retirement debt-free. Instead, ask which payments you want your future retirement income to support.

Every payment you eliminate before retirement is one less payment your retirement income has to cover.

BUDGET: Give Retirement a Test Drive
Once you’ve reviewed the plan, try something many future retirees never do - practice it.

Estimate what you expect to have available each month in retirement from Social Security, pensions, retirement accounts, savings, investments, part-time work, or other expected income. Then build a realistic budget around that amount.

Include the expenses retirement may actually bring:

• Housing & home maintenance
• Healthcare
• Transportation
• Food & utilities
• Travel, hobbies & entertainment
• Family support
• Unexpected expenses

Don’t assume everything gets cheaper simply because you’re no longer working. Commuting costs might fall while healthcare, travel, or hobbies increase.

Retirement doesn’t necessarily mean spending less. It means spending differently.

Now try living within that budget for a few months while you’re still employed.

If you currently live on $8,000 per month but expect your retirement lifestyle to require about $6,500, see what living closer to $6,500 really feels like.

If it works, you’ve gained confidence in the plan. If it doesn’t, you’ve learned something extremely valuable while you still have a regular paycheck and time to adjust.

And if that exercise creates extra room in your current budget, those dollars could potentially go toward retirement savings, debt reduction, cash reserves, or other financial goals.

Don’t make your first month of retirement the first time you’ve tried living on your retirement budget.

LIFE: What are You Actually Retiring Into?
Finally, look beyond the numbers. After 30 or 40 years of working, your job often provides much more than income. It can provide routine, relationships, goals, structure, and a sense of purpose.

So, what does an ordinary Tuesday look like after retirement?

Maybe you want to travel, volunteer, work part-time, spend time with grandchildren, pursue hobbies, or simply have more control over your schedule. Whatever you imagine, give it some thought before retirement arrives.

That matters financially, too. Frequent travel creates a different budget from a more home-centered lifestyle.

Retirement isn’t simply the day you stop working. It’s a transition into a different way of using your money and your time. You aren’t only retiring from work. You’re retiring into something else. Know what that something is.

We’re Here to Help!
The final stretch isn’t the time to panic about everything you haven’t done. It’s an opportunity to look at the plan you’ve built, compare it with the life you’re living now, and make adjustments while you still have employment income. Review what you’re saving, what you’re spending, who you’re supporting, and what you expect retirement itself to look like. Then use the remaining years to bring those pieces closer together.

If you want to learn more about savings and investment options or would like to work with a financial advisor on your retirement plan, we’re ready to help. Please stop by the Credit Union or call 410-687-5240 to schedule an appointment today.

Each individual’s financial situation is unique and readers are encouraged to contact the Credit Union when seeking financial advice on the products and services discussed. This article is for educational purposes only; the authors assume no legal responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the contents.

9/8/26