Can I retire at 62 with $1,000,000 as a couple?

For a couple retiring at 62 with $1,000,000, the bridge to full benefits at 67 is 5 years, with two claims to time. A common structure has the lower earner claim early while the higher earner waits, because the larger check becomes the survivor's. Here, both of you delaying to 70 also lifts the odds at the 90%-confidence budget, so the portfolio can afford the wait.

What 10,000 simulated retirements say

Your household's odds of lasting to 95 at each all-in monthly budget, in today's dollars. See how we ran these numbers.

The 4% rule versus the simulation

The 4% rule says $1,000,000 supports $3,330 a month from the portfolio. Add the $3,208 monthly Social Security we assume for the two of you and the budget comes to $6,540. But benefits don't start until 67, so for the first 5 years the portfolio pays the whole $6,540 on its own. Simulated, that budget lasts to 95 in 68% of futures. That's short of the 90% many planners aim for; the simulation puts the 90%-odds budget at $5,550, $990 a month lower.

How the money holds up over time

Spending $5,550 a month, the median simulated household still holds $1.17M at 85 (in today's dollars). In an unlucky future — the 10th percentile — it's down to $264K, and in a lucky one (90th percentile) it's $3.35M. Among the futures where the money lasts, the typical balance left at 95 is $1.67M — the cushion that a 90% target buys, more than the $1,000,000 you started with.

Push spending to $6,250 a month and about 24% of simulated futures run dry before 95. When that happens, the median age the money runs out is 86, and the earliest tenth of those failures arrive by 79. These are late failures, after decades of the plan working, when Social Security would be the only income left.

What moves the odds

Holding spending at $5,550 a month and changing one thing at a time, the biggest improvement comes from both of you delaying to 70, which moves the odds from 91% to 94%. Delay pays because savings can carry three more years, and the 24% larger check then covers more of the budget for life, which matters most in the long-lived futures. The biggest downside is a 22% benefit cut from 2032, which takes the odds to 80%.

Our read

Make the higher earner's check count

Both delaying to 70 lifts the odds at $5,550 a month to 94%; claiming now drops them to 84%. For couples the bigger reason to delay is the survivor benefit: the survivor keeps the larger of your two checks, delayed credits included.

With $1 million the household can fund eight years of full withdrawals. If it can't comfortably fund two delays, prioritize the higher earner's, because the lower earner's check disappears at the first death anyway. The 2032 cut (80%) remains the biggest single downside.

Waiting three more years to stop, until 65, lifts the 90%-odds budget to $6,100 and means Medicare begins the day the paychecks end, so there's no stretch of marketplace coverage for two to fund.

If one of you is left

We assume both of you reach 95. At the first death, the survivor keeps the larger check and the $1,137 one stops, a 35% cut to household benefits. At $5,550 a month, the $2,071 left covers 37% of spending instead of 58%; savings fill the gap. From the year after, a widow or widower without a dependent child files as single: narrower brackets, and the Medicare surcharge (IRMAA) above $109,000 of MAGI rather than $218,000.

Sources: SSA — survivor benefit amounts · IRS Publication 501 — filing status

Your timeline from age 62

1. 62

   Earliest Social Security claim

   $2,246 a month for life (70% of $3,208). It cuts the odds at $5,550 to 84%.

   Source: ssa.gov
2. 65

   Medicare

   3 years of coverage for two: COBRA for up to 18 months, then marketplace plans whose subsidies depend on your combined income.

   Source: healthcare.gov
3. 67

   Full retirement age (our assumption)

   $3,208 a month combined, 5 years after you stop working: 58% of $5,550.

   Source: ssa.gov
4. 68

   2032: projected trust-fund depletion

   About 78% of scheduled benefits payable without action from Congress (2026 Trustees Report): $706 a month less. Odds at $5,550: 80%.

   Source: ssa.gov
5. 70

   Maximum Social Security

   $3,978 a month combined (124%). Waiting raises the odds at $5,550 to 94%.

   Source: ssa.gov
6. 75

   Required minimum distributions

   Born 1964, so RMDs start at 75 under SECURE 2.0, on a median $984K. From 63 on, conversion income counts toward Medicare's IRMAA surcharge, which applies above $218,000 of joint MAGI.

   Source: irs.gov

How we ran these numbers

• Both spouses, 62, retiring in 2026 with $1,000,000 invested (home equity not counted) and no further contributions. Social Security of $2,071 + $1,137 a month at full retirement age, SSA's January 2026 average for an aged couple, claimed at 67 and indexed to inflation.
• 60/35/5 stocks, bonds and cash; spending flat in today's dollars, taxes and health insurance included; success means lasting to 95 with both alive.

Benefit figures: SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet.

The methodology page documents every assumption and data source. Your own numbers will differ — run them below.