Retirement

62, 65, 67, 70. All these ages are important when it comes to Social Security and Medicare. And these ages are also targets in the contentious debate over ...

Raising the full retirement age is a mechanism for cutting benefits.” Few people delay collecting their Social Security benefits, though the share is growing. For many retirees, the benefits make up the bulk of their income in their older years. Doing so could wipe out about a third of the Social Security trust fund’s 75-year deficit, according to Munnell. Many folks may think that people can start collecting their full Social Security benefits at age 65, which was the retirement age for decades. [Nikki Haley recently zeroed in](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/09/politics/nikki-haley-retirement-age-social-security-medicare/index.html) on raising the retirement age for Americans in their 20s as a way to reform Social Security, saying it should match their life expectancy. A more recent forecast by the Congressional Budget Office pegged the date at 2032 for the depletion of the retirement trust fund. Proponents argue that Americans are living longer and should be able to remain employed longer. As the US population ages, there are fewer workers paying into the programs and supporting the ballooning number of beneficiaries, who are also living longer. Americans born in 1960 or later must wait until they turn 67 to collect their full benefits. The CBO put the date at 2033. Nancy Mace of South Carolina](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/12/politics/social-security-retirement-age-nancy-mace-cnntv/index.html) on CNN’s “State of the Union” last Sunday.

10 Tips For Structuring Your Day In Retirement ... The idea of kicking back with “nothin' to do” in retirement sounds fabulous in young adulthood or middle age ...

Pro Tip: Make a “note to self” for the next morning to inform your design of the day. We can outlive our jobs and find ourselves surviving that new status, or we can maximize a new phase of life with particular specifications unique to our own interests and needs. The social benefit is obvious but so is the health factor of accounting for “What are you having?” Even the most extroverted of us need some balance of “blessed solitude” to turn within for reflection or to have the feeling of “nothing going on” that we need. Take a reset moment at the conclusion of your day. You can also embrace a larger purpose, such as mentoring up-and-comers in your field of expertise or identifying a societal need and devoting time to address it. That could mean lunch with a friend, a regular phone call or video meet-up, or routinely convening with acquaintances to play a game and shoot the breeze. Maybe not, but it’s the very predictability and effectiveness of our routines that provides the canvas onto which we can add a splash of color to our lives. Whether you wake up grumbling or radiating light, carve out a moment for yourself to decide the theme of the day. Researching your next travel plans counts — the learning and the anticipation are just as essential to the fun as the travel itself. What follows are 10 recommendations for structuring your day in retirement to create the right balance of freedom and goal orientation. The blessing and the curse of our jobs have been they told us who we were, where to go, and what to do most of any given week.