When people think about retiring early, most of the focus is on the first few years of retirement. Health insurance, market risk, and whether savings can comfortably support the transition.
All of that matters. But there is another piece that often gets overlooked. How stopping work earlier than planned can quietly change your future Social Security benefit, even if you do not plan to claim right away.
In this video, I explain how Social Security is actually calculated, why your earnings history matters just as much as when you claim, and how early retirement can affect the foundation your benefit is built on.
I also talk through why retiring early can create pressure to claim sooner, how part time or consulting income can trigger the earnings test before full retirement age, and why these issues are often psychological as much as technical.
This is not about making a wrong decision or discouraging early retirement. It is about understanding the tradeoffs so Social Security decisions are not made in isolation or by accident.
If you are considering retiring before full retirement age, especially if you saved well but are unsure how Social Security fits into the bigger picture, this video offers a practical framework for thinking through those decisions more intentionally.
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