Do you ever wonder; who said you had to retire at age 65? Not before, not after, but right at 65?*
And what is retirement, anyway? Do you have to stop working completely?
I’ve seen time and again people pick an age and say, “That’s when I want to retire.” Often, that age is fairly arbitrary. But once it gets planted in our minds, it can become surprisingly hard to move.
Someone may be perfectly capable of retiring at 62 but continue working until 65 because that was always the number. Or the opposite may be true: working another year could meaningfully strengthen the plan, but retirement at 65 has become so ingrained that waiting feels like failure.
I’m all for setting goals. But retirement is rarely a single moment when you suddenly begin an entirely different life.
It’s better thought of as a process. One that begins years before your final paycheck.
Creating a Process
When retirement still feels far away, the goal isn’t necessarily to figure out the exact date, but rather, to lay the groundwork so when the time comes, you have options.
For example, a pediatrician around age 50 - especially one earning the lion’s share of her household income - the groundwork can be particularly important. Your family may still depend heavily on your paycheck, and you may still be juggling college savings, a mortgage, retirement contributions, and plenty of other competing priorities.
A few areas can have an outsized effect on your future flexibility:
Build the habit of saving. The amount matters, of course, but so does consistency. Saving throughout your career creates choices later.
Think ahead about taxes. That may mean deciding between pre-tax and Roth retirement contributions, making Roth conversions during lower-income years, or using an HSA strategically. Retirement planning isn't only about how much you accumulate; it's also about how that money will eventually be taxed.
Pay attention to fixed expenses. This may be one of the biggest factors determining when retirement becomes possible.
The less your lifestyle requires each month, the less income your investments need to replace. Lower fixed expenses also tend to create more room to save along the way.
And the opposite can snowball. A larger house usually comes with a larger mortgage, higher property taxes, more maintenance, more furniture and higher utilities. None of those things are inherently bad. But every permanent expense you add today becomes something your future retirement plan may need to support.
Think of your career as a marathon, not a sprint. Instead of asking only, “How quickly can I make enough money to retire?” ask, “How can I make this career sustainable, and hopefully enjoyable, for as long as I choose to do it?”
That mindset shift leads to a very different kind of retirement planning.
The Better Question Is: “What Am I Retiring To?”
As retirement gets closer, I think one of the most important questions becomes:
What am I retiring to?
Work provides more than income. It can provide purpose, relationships, structure, challenge and a sense that what you’re doing matters.
For a pediatrician, that can be especially significant. You may have spent decades caring for children and families and developing expertise that other people rely on. Walking away from that doesn't automatically create a fulfilling retirement.
That doesn’t mean you should work forever.
It means there should ideally be something on the other side that you’re moving toward.
Maybe that’s volunteering for a cause you care about. Becoming more involved in your community. Spending more time with your children or grandchildren. Traveling. Mentoring younger physicians. Pursuing a hobby that never fit well into your clinical schedule.
The financial plan needs to fund retirement.
But the life plan needs to give you a reason to enjoy it.
Retirement May Begin Before You Stop Working Completely
This is where the traditional idea of retirement can become especially limiting.
You don't necessarily have to go from full-time pediatrician on Friday to completely retired on Monday.
Maybe your version of retirement begins by dropping being on call.
Or maybe you move from five days a week to four. Then eventually three.
Maybe you stop doing the parts of medicine you find exhausting but continue the work you still enjoy.
That changes the question from:
“When can I retire?”
to:
“How can I create enough financial flexibility to practice medicine on better terms?”
For someone who has been the primary financial engine of her household for decades, that can be an enormously powerful shift.
The goal may not be to stop earning income as quickly as possible. It may be reaching the point where you no longer need to earn your current income.
Once that happens, work starts becoming more optional and you gain far more control over what the next chapter looks like.
Your Early 50s Are an Important Planning Window
Your early 50s are a particularly useful time to start having these conversations.
Retirement is close enough that the numbers are becoming more meaningful, but usually far enough away that you still have time to make adjustments.
You can begin testing questions like:
What happens if I reduce my hours at 58?
Could I retire at 60 instead of 65?
What would another two years of work change?
How much would we actually need to spend once the mortgage is gone or the kids are independent?
What if I continued earning a smaller amount doing work I enjoy?
What would need to be true financially for me to feel comfortable stepping back?
You don’t need to know exactly what will happen.
In fact, you probably won’t.
The point is to understand your options before you need to choose among them.
Retirement Is a Series of Decisions
Eventually, you will have a final day at work.
But retirement itself isn’t really a date on the calendar.
It’s the result of hundreds of decisions made over many years: how much you save, the lifestyle you build, the taxes you pay, the flexibility you create, how sustainable you make your career, and what kind of life you want waiting for you on the other side.
So rather than beginning with, “What age should I retire?” consider starting somewhere else:
What do I want the next chapter of my life to look like and what can I do now to give myself the freedom to choose it?
That’s a retirement process worth planning for.
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I help pediatricians build retirement plans that account for the numbers, their families, and the realities of a demanding medical career.
If you’re beginning to wonder what the next stage of your career and life could look like, schedule a complimentary introductory call.
