Working one more year before retirement makes sense when you can name a specific financial or personal purpose for it. Retirement readiness depends on whether your resources can replace the income you need over time, not on account balance alone. Without a defined purpose, adding more savings may not resolve feelings of uncertainty.
If you've spent years building retirement savings, and now you're close enough to consider leaving work, yet deciding that you have "enough" is feeling difficult, this article is for you.
Gregory S. DuPont, JD, CFP, founder of Advocate Wealth Solutions, an attorney-led family office in Dublin, Ohio, describes the pattern (opens a separate site in a new tab) this way: "It's rarely a math decision. It's more commonly a fear decision wearing a math costume."
In this article, you'll learn:
- How to distinguish a real, defined financial need from a moving retirement target
- Why income, Social Security, taxes, health, and time all belong in your decision on when to retire
- Which questions can help you decide whether another working year has a clear purpose
Working another year can add savings, but the financial benefit is only one part of the decision. Understanding what your existing resources can provide gives you a more useful place to start, and that's the kind of question a retirement readiness assessment is designed to answer.
When does working longer before retirement become a repeating decision?
Working longer becomes a repeating decision when "one more year" turns into a default answer rather than a deliberate choice tied to a defined goal. This pattern is increasingly common. In F&G Annuities & Life's fourth annual Retirement Reconsidered survey (opens a separate site in a new tab), released October 15, 2026, 75% of pre-retirees said they have considered or are delaying their retirement date, up from 70% in 2025. The survey was conducted in August 2026 by Censuswide among 2,001 U.S. adults age 50 and older with at least $100,000 in investable assets, so it may not reflect every household.
One additional year of work may improve your finances. You may earn another year of income, make additional contributions, and reduce the number of retirement years your savings need to cover.
The difficulty comes when "one more year" becomes a recurring answer.
You reach a savings target, but decide another year would feel safer. Twelve months later, the account is larger, yet the same uncertainty remains. You move the goal again.
Without a defined finish line, a decision that began as financial caution can continue for years.
That makes it useful to ask what another working year is supposed to accomplish. If you can't identify the financial or personal purpose behind it, increasing the account balance may not resolve the uncertainty. Greg DuPont sees this pattern among families approaching retirement. He designed the Clarity Map Session to help address it by putting income, taxes, and estate documents on one page before another year slips by.
Why retirement income planning matters
Retirement income planning shifts the focus from how much you've accumulated to how much income your savings can actually produce.
Accumulation is familiar. You spend decades contributing, investing, and watching a balance grow.
Retirement changes the job your money needs to perform.
Instead of concentrating only on how much you've accumulated, you need to understand how your savings can replace income. Greg emphasizes starting with the income you need and determining what your resources can provide.
That distinction can make a large, abstract retirement savings balance easier to evaluate.
For example, on his podcast March to a Million (opens a separate site in a new tab), Greg describes someone whose Social Security income covers most of what they expect to need. If the remaining gap is approximately $1,000 per month (an illustrative figure, not a recommendation), the question becomes more specific.
You can begin by evaluating what resources are needed to fill that gap rather than simply assuming the entire retirement balance must keep growing. This is the same logic behind the Income & Tax Strategy layer of Advocate Wealth Solutions' PILOT Process™, which examines where income is generated, how future distributions will be taxed, and how withdrawals should be sequenced, rather than treating your savings as one undifferentiated number. Tax outcomes vary by household, so this is also where tax planning comes into the picture.
What are the pros and cons of working one more year before retirement?
Working one more year before retirement offers potential financial benefits, but each benefit comes with a trade-off that should be weighed against your actual needs.
| Consideration | What another working year may provide | What should also be evaluated |
|---|---|---|
| Savings | Additional contributions and earnings | Whether the additional savings are actually needed |
| Income | Another year of employment income | What income your existing resources can already provide |
| Social Security | More time before relying on benefits | How much of your expected income need Social Security already covers |
| Taxes | Additional tax-deferred savings | Potential future retirement taxes on deferred money |
| Time | Another year pursuing career goals | A year of retirement time that can't be recovered |
| Health | More time in the workforce | Whether your health and energy support the retirement plans you've postponed |
| Family | Continued financial accumulation | Your spouse's retirement timing and shared plans |
This comparison doesn't produce the same answer for everyone. It gives you a better way to understand what you're exchanging.
Your healthy retirement years belong in the calculation
Your healthy retirement years belong in the calculation because, unlike an account balance, time cannot be recovered or grown back once it's spent.
Everyone gets the same number of hours in a year, but nobody knows how many healthy years they'll have available to use those hours.
Greg refers to the early part of retirement as the "go-go years," when you may still have the health and energy to travel and pursue the activities you've postponed.
Another year of work could improve your financial position. It could also use up one of those years.
That trade-off becomes especially important when you're continuing in a demanding or stressful position solely to add savings that your plan doesn't show you'll need. Stress-testing your plan against longevity and life events, a core layer of Advocate Wealth Solutions' PILOT Process™, is one way to see in writing whether your resources already support the retirement you've been postponing. Any such projection is a software estimate based on assumptions, not a guarantee of future results.
Why does your spouse have a stake in your retirement date?
Your spouse has a stake in your retirement date because the decision affects shared plans, shared time, and shared financial outcomes, not just your individual career.
Retirement timing often affects more than one person.
If you've spent years discussing travel, time together, family, or other shared retirement goals, continuing to work changes those plans for your spouse as well.
Greg describes situations where one spouse continues working out of a desire to protect the household financially while the other is already waiting to begin their shared retirement.
Health can change before those plans happen.
That makes retirement timing a household discussion rather than an individual calculation. Your spouse's goals, health, work situation, and expectations deserve a place beside the financial numbers.
Can working longer still be the right personal choice?
Working longer can still be the right choice when the additional year is tied to a specific, defined purpose rather than a vague sense of financial safety.
Having enough to retire doesn't require you to stop working.
You may enjoy your work. Your career may give you community, purpose, and energy. You may also have a specific retirement goal that another year of earnings will fund.
Greg gives the example of working another year because the proceeds will pay for a three-month European trip after retirement.
That is a defined reason.
The distinction is whether you've made the decision with an understanding of your financial position, the benefits of continuing, and the cost of the additional year.
What questions should you ask before postponing your retirement date?
Before postponing your retirement date, you should be able to answer specific questions about your financial comfort level, your plan's resilience, and the purpose behind continuing to work.
Greg recommends asking yourself candid questions before automatically adding another year:
- Can you name the financial number that would make you comfortable?
- Why does that particular number make sense?
- Have you calculated the income your savings can already provide?
- Does your plan show how your income responds to a difficult market year?
- Are you giving up healthy retirement years to accumulate money you may never need?
- Can you clearly state what you're working for right now?
These questions help turn an open-ended goal into something you can evaluate. They also map to the kind of retirement readiness picture Advocate Wealth Solutions builds in a Clarity Map Session, a free, 30-minute, no-obligation look at where your income, taxes, and estate documents stand today.
Get clearer about what your retirement savings can provide
Understand your income needs, resources, trade-offs, and purpose before deciding whether another year belongs in your plan.
A written financial plan can help you move from looking at one large savings balance to seeing how your resources may work together. That clarity can also help you identify which parts of your plan still need attention. A plan is built on assumptions, so it should be revisited as your circumstances and the markets change.
Unlike advisors who review investments in isolation, Advocate Wealth Solutions is an attorney-led family office that coordinates income planning, tax strategy, estate documents, and risk management through its five-layer PILOT Process™. Because the firm's founder holds both a JD and the CFP® designation, the same team evaluating your retirement income can also review whether your estate documents and account titling support the plan. Gaps between those pieces are easier to see when they're reviewed together.
Frequently asked questions
Does working one more year always improve retirement?
Another working year may add income and savings and reduce the number of retirement years your savings need to cover. Gregory S. DuPont, JD, CFP also encourages considering the cost, including taxes, health, time, and postponed retirement plans.
How do I know whether I have enough retirement savings?
Greg's approach begins with the income you expect to need. From there, you can look at Social Security income and determine how much additional income your savings need to provide.
Should my spouse be involved in deciding when I retire?
Greg believes these decisions are too significant for only one spouse to make. Retirement timing can affect shared travel plans, lifestyle, finances, health considerations, and how you spend your time together.
What should I ask before deciding to work another year?
Start by identifying what the additional year is intended to accomplish. If you can explain the financial or personal purpose and understand the trade-offs, you have more information for making the decision.
How is retirement readiness different from having a large savings balance?
Retirement readiness looks at whether your resources can produce the income you need, across taxes, market downturns, and healthcare costs, not just the total size of your accounts. A large balance can still leave gaps in income sequencing, tax exposure, or estate coordination.
Continue the conversation
A retirement date can represent years of saving, planning, and anticipation. If you're approaching that decision and want a clearer view of what your savings can provide, you're welcome to book a Clarity Map Session with Advocate Wealth Solutions, a free, no-obligation, 30-minute conversation about where your income, taxes, and estate plan stand today. You can also call (614) 408-0004 to talk through where you are right now.
This article is educational information only, not financial, legal, or tax advice, and not a guarantee of any particular outcome. Talk to a professional about your specific situation. Advocate Wealth Solutions is a registered investment adviser.
Published October 21, 2026. Tax law, contribution limits and thresholds change, so read any figure here as of its stated date. None of it is advice about your own situation. Advocate Wealth Solutions is a fee-based planning firm in Dublin, Ohio, and a Clarity Map Session is where questions about your own accounts get answered.
