A Florida Retirement Checklist by Decade: Your 50s, 60s, and 70s
What actually needs attention changes by decade, and Florida adds its own layer with the homestead exemption, no state income tax, and Medicare enrollment timing that trips up new residents mid-move.
In Your 50s: Catch Up and Get a Real Number
This is the decade to check whether you qualify for catch up contributions on your 401k or IRA, since the IRS adjusts those limits most years and it's worth confirming the current figure rather than relying on an old number. Pull your Social Security estimate at ssa.gov/myaccount and look at it honestly against your expected expenses. If you're carrying a mortgage or other debt into retirement, this is also the decade to build a real payoff pace, not a vague intention, especially if a Florida move is part of the plan and you want the home paid off before residency questions and homestead filing come into play.
In Your 60s: Medicare Timing and the Claiming Decision
Medicare enrollment has a specific window around age 65, and missing it can mean a permanent premium penalty, so mark that date regardless of when you actually plan to stop working. If you're retiring before 65, work out the healthcare bridge first, whether that's COBRA, a marketplace plan, or a spouse's coverage, before you give notice. The Social Security claiming decision, anywhere from 62 to 70, is one of the biggest financial choices most households make and it depends on health, other income, and marital status more than any single rule of thumb. Florida's no state income tax and homestead exemption both become more relevant once you're actually drawing retirement income here full time.
When to Bring In a Professional
The 70s bring required minimum distributions, qualified charitable distributions if you're charitably inclined, and a beneficiary designation review that most people put off far too long. RMD rules and starting ages change with federal law, so confirm the current threshold rather than trusting a fixed age from an older article, including this one. This is also the decade where the stakes of a wrong move go up and the margin for fixing a mistake goes down, which makes it a reasonable point to bring a matched planner into an annual review even if you've handled everything solo up to now.
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