When it comes to retirement, a year can change everything 

Somewhere in America, a 62-year-old couple is sitting at the kitchen table with Social Security statements and a calculator. Both husband and wife have been working for roughly 40 years. They are healthy and good at their jobs, but they ponder leaving the workforce. Travel, time with family, and maybe even some golf beckons. The decision is theirs, and there is nothing easy about it.

Their earnings statements will help with the financial math, but what is not included might surprise them. First, and perhaps most important, early retirement might kill him. Men contemplating retirement at age 62 — the earliest age for Social Security eligibility — face about 20 percent higher mortality than those who keep working. The evidence for women is less clear but points in the same direction.

That sounds counterintuitive. The popular picture is that retirement is the reward at the end of a long working life. The longevity gain comes bundled with what no statement can capture: the company of a colleague you have known for 15 years, the satisfaction of a problem only you can solve, the confidence of still being needed. People who keep working into their 60s report more purpose and stronger social ties, and the mortality benefits are almost certainly tied with that.

It’s also a myth that their best years are behind them. Getting older doesn’t mean less productivity. Data........

© The Hill