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Can I retire at 62 with $500,000?
Retire at 62 with $500,000, spend $3,500 a month and claim no Social Security, and your money runs out at age 76 at a moderate 3% real return, age 74 to 79 across the conservative and higher bands. The table below answers the same question for five balances, three spending levels and three Social Security choices.
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Your retirement verdict at age 62
This is arithmetic on the scenario you enter, not financial advice for your specific situation.
Example verdict
Runs out at age 76
At a moderate 3% real return. $500,000 at 62, spending $3,500 a month, no Social Security.
Across the three real-return bands on this page, that runs from age 74 at the conservative band (1% real) to age 79 at the higher band (5% real).
From your retirement age to your claiming age, the full amount comes from savings. From your claiming age on, Social Security covers part of it.
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The complete picture at 62
The table below runs every balance and spending level at 62, against three Social Security choices
The full retirement grid prints one cut, no Social Security, across six retirement ages at once. This table holds age fixed at 62 and instead varies the one thing that grid can’t show at a glance: what claiming Social Security, and when, does to the same balance and spending level. Each cell is the age the money runs out (or “95+” if it lasts to the horizon) at a moderate 3% real return, with the conservative-to-higher range beneath it. The calculator above computes any balance, spending level or claiming choice on the same assumptions as this table.
No Social Security (Savings alone)
| Starting balance | $3,000/mo | $4,500/mo | $6,000/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | 69 range 69–70 | 66 range 66–67 | 65 range 65–65 |
| $500,000 | 79 range 76–85 | 72 range 71–74 | 69 range 69–70 |
| $750,000 | 94 range 85–95+ | 79 range 76–85 | 74 range 73–76 |
| $1,000,000 | 95+ range 94–95+ | 88 range 82–95+ | 79 range 76–85 |
| $1,500,000 | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 95+ range 94–95+ | 94 range 85–95+ |
$2,000/mo claimed at 62 (70% of the full benefit (claimed early))
| Starting balance | $3,000/mo | $4,500/mo | $6,000/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | 78 range 75–82 | 69 range 68–70 | 66 range 66–67 |
| $500,000 | 95+ range 92–95+ | 79 range 76–83 | 72 range 71–73 |
| $750,000 | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 92 range 84–95+ | 79 range 76–84 |
| $1,000,000 | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 95+ range 93–95+ | 87 range 81–95+ |
| $1,500,000 | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 95+ range 93–95+ |
$2,000/mo claimed at 70 (124% of the full benefit (delayed to the maximum))
| Starting balance | $3,000/mo | $4,500/mo | $6,000/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | 69 range 69–73 | 66 range 66–67 | 65 range 65–65 |
| $500,000 | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 76 range 73–81 | 69 range 69–70 |
| $750,000 | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 95+ range 86–95+ | 78 range 75–82 |
| $1,000,000 | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 89 range 82–95+ |
| $1,500,000 | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 95+ range 95+–95+ | 95+ range 95+–95+ |
Every cell: two-phase monthly-compounded real-return depletion, horizon age 95, moderate band 3% real, range spans 1% to 5% real, Social Security columns use a $2,000 full (age-67) monthly benefit adjusted by the claiming multiplier. An automated predeploy check re-derives every cell from an independent Python implementation of the formula and the build fails on any mismatch; see the methodology below.
Claiming at 62
Age 62 is the earliest Social Security claim there is, and the reduction is permanent
Sixty-two is the youngest age Social Security allows a retirement claim at all. It is also this page’s own retirement age, so retiring and claiming happen at the same moment, with no bridge period between them.
Per Congressional Research Service Report R47151 (June 2022), claiming at 62 against a full retirement age of 67 pays a permanent 70% of the full benefit. The reduction is 5/9% per month for the first 36 months early, then 5/12% per month beyond that. It never resets, not at 70, not ever.
On a $2,000 full benefit that is $1,400 a month starting at 62, against $2,480 a month waiting to 70, a $1,080 monthly gap that runs for the rest of your retirement. The trade is not automatically bad: eight extra years of income (62 to 70) can outweigh a smaller check, depending on how long your retirement lasts and how much of the balance the smaller, earlier check protects. The “$2,000/mo claimed at 62” column in the table above prices that trade directly, at every balance and spending level this site tracks.
One result worth stating plainly: the claiming trade flips with spending, not with age. At $500,000 spending $3,500 a month, waiting to 70 lasts longer (87 / 95+ / 95+ against 84 / 91 / 95+ claiming at 62). At $4,500 a month it reverses (76 / 79 / 83 claiming at 62 against 73 / 76 / 81 waiting). At $750,000 and above the delay wins again. Read the cell, not the rule.
See this priced against your own balance and spending, not a table.
The horizon at 62
Retiring at 62 means a 33-year horizon to 95, three years past what the 4% rule was tested against
William Bengen built the 4% rule in 1994 and the 1998 Trinity study popularized it, both tested against a 30-year retirement. Retiring at 62 and holding this page’s own horizon of 95, the actual span is 33 years, 10% longer than the rule’s own basis. Applied flatly anyway, the way SmartAsset’s scenario template and Vanguard’s calculator both do (both checked 13 August 2026, restated from the full retirement grid’s own findings), a flat 4% figure is mildly optimistic at 62: not the dramatic miss it becomes at 55’s 40-year span, but a real three-year gap the flat number never accounts for.
This page’s own moderate-band default states the gap concretely: $500,000 at 62 spending $3,500 a month (an 8.4% initial withdrawal rate, more than double the 4% rule’s own ceiling) runs out at age 76 with no Social Security, well short of 95. The table above runs the same 33-year horizon against every balance and spending level this site tracks, and against three Social Security choices, rather than one flat percentage applied without regard to how many years it actually has to cover.
Horizon: age 95 (this page’s stated convention, matching NerdWallet’s and SmartAsset’s own retirement-calculator defaults, checked 13 August 2026). 95 minus 62 is a 33-year span from this age.
Common questions
This page answers four common questions about retiring at 62
Can I retire at 62 with $500,000?
At $3,500 a month in essential spending and no Social Security, $500,000 at 62 runs out at age 76 at a moderate 3% real return, ranging from age 74 to 79 across the conservative and higher bands. Claim $2,000 a month in Social Security at 62 (the same age you retire, a 70% early-claim reduction) and the same scenario runs out at age 91 at the moderate band, 84 to 95+ across the full range. The table above runs all five balances and three spending levels this site tracks, at all three Social Security choices.
Does claiming Social Security at 62 cost me money for life?
Yes, permanently: claiming at 62 against a full retirement age of 67 pays 70% of the full benefit for the rest of your life, a 30% reduction that never resets, per Congressional Research Service Report R47151 (June 2022). On a $2,000 full benefit that is $1,400 a month starting at 62 versus $2,000 a month waiting five years to 67. The reduction buys five extra years of income sooner; whether that trade helps a specific retirement depends on the starting balance and spending, which is exactly what the table above prices at 62 specifically.
How much money do I need to retire at 62?
That depends entirely on monthly spending and whether Social Security is claimed. At $3,000 a month, $250,000 runs out at age 69 at the moderate band with no Social Security; at $6,000 a month the same $250,000 runs out at age 65. The full table above prices every combination of balance and spending this site tracks, at 62 specifically, so the answer never has to be a single rule of thumb.
Why does this page assume retirement lasts to age 95?
Age 95 matches the convention this category already uses: NerdWallet’s and SmartAsset’s own retirement calculators both default to a life expectancy of 95 (checked 13 August 2026, restated from the full retirement grid’s own methodology). Retiring at 62 means a 33-year horizon to 95, three years longer than the 30-year span the 4% withdrawal rule was built and tested against; the horizon-correction section below states what that gap does to a flat 4% number at this specific age.
Limits
This model can’t see your taxes, your health costs before Medicare, or a bad first five years
Taxes and healthcare. Neither the table nor the calculator deducts taxes, and retiring at 62 means three years of private health insurance before Medicare starts at 65, priced nowhere in this model except inside whatever figure you enter as monthly spending.
Sequence risk. This model applies one constant real return every month. A real market does not; two retirees with the same average return over 33 years can end up in very different places depending on when the bad years land.
Everything else you have. A pension, a working spouse, a paid-off house: none of it is in this calculation unless folded into the numbers entered. Treat every verdict above as a starting estimate, not a guarantee.
Methodology
Every figure on this page traces to the published formula behind the full retirement grid
The verdict table and the calculator above read the identical two-phase real-return depletion formula the full retirement grid publishes in full: phase one draws full spending from savings until the Social Security claim age (or for the whole horizon, with no benefit entered); phase two, if the balance survives, draws spending minus the claimed benefit. This page holds retirement age fixed at 62 and varies balance, spending and claiming choice instead; the full retirement grid varies age. Both pages run the same calculation code, so neither can silently disagree with the other.
Published 14 August 2026. Horizon: age 95. Real-return bands: conservative 1%, moderate 3%, higher 5%. Social Security claiming multipliers: Congressional Research Service Report R47151 (June 2022). Competitor facts restated from the full retirement grid, verified 13 August 2026.
Corrections: 2026-08-14: first publication.
A verdict at 62 is not a plan. Your own accounts are.
Every figure above answers the question it was built for. None of it can see your taxes or your health costs before Medicare. The five years after you retire decide more than any figure above, and no table can see them coming.
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