Physicians in their sixties may be preparing for full retirement or a gradual clinical phase-down, a continuing role in teaching, consulting, leadership or selective practice. The strongest plan coordinates your household timeline with your employment or ownership terms, benefits, malpractice obligations, taxes, family needs and the professional identity you’ve built over decades. Here is Beacon Pointe’s list of top tips to live life your way in your sixties and beyond. If you are considering what comes next in your medical career, our team is available for a confidential, complimentary consultation to provide greater clarity around the path ahead.
1. Define Your Transition and Plan Your Transition Bridge
Consider starting to plan your transition 2-3 years before your intended retirement or reduction in clinical duties, depending on your circumstances. Set provisional dates for steps such as reducing call or volume, ending full-time work and leaving your practice. For example, you might reduce night shifts in year one, phase out certain procedures in year two and fully retire or shift to consulting or teaching in year three. Consider whether fewer nights, a narrower procedure mix, outpatient work, teaching, mentoring or consulting would create a better transition bridge. Establishing a clear timeline may provide greater clarity and can help ensure that contracts, benefits, taxes, patient continuity, and family decisions are addressed in the right order.
2. Build Your Retirement Paycheck and Stress-Test the Exit
Map expected spending to your pensions, deferred compensation, Social Security, retirement accounts, taxable assets, real estate, cash reserves and any part-time income. If a buyout, bonus, or deferred payment is expected, test smaller, later or more heavily taxed proceeds. A Beacon Pointe advisor can help you assess where you stand and provide a framework for key decisions such as how long to work, where to pull from first, how much you can afford to spend from your portfolio, whether to work part-time, whether you can afford to buy a second home or whether you need to scale back a bit. We recommend not retiring without some serious number crunching because re-entering the workforce might be difficult and a new job might be less lucrative.
3. Carefully Consider How and When to Take Social Security
Deciding when to claim Social Security is an important and personal decision. Retirement benefits generally can begin at age 62, while survivor benefits may be available as early as age 60. For someone born in 1960 or later, claiming retirement benefits at 62 generally results in about 70% of the benefit payable at full retirement age (“FRA”), which is 67. Delaying retirement benefits after FRA earns delayed retirement credits of 8% per year for those born in 1943 or later, until age 70. For someone with an FRA of 67, the benefit at age 70 is about 124% of the FRA amount. Whether delaying is appropriate depends on cash-flow needs, health and longevity expectations, marital and survivor considerations, taxes, and other assets. If you claim before FRA while working, benefits may be withheld under the earnings test. In 2026, $1 is withheld for every $2 of earnings above $24,480 for someone below FRA throughout the year; benefits withheld under this test are reflected in a later recalculation at FRA. Spousal benefits generally do not earn delayed retirement credits after FRA. For current rules or an estimate of your benefits, contact Social Security at (800) 772-1213 or visit http://www.ssa.gov/.
4. Apply for Medicare on Time
If you do not enroll in Medicare during the enrollment period that applies to you, you may face a gap in coverage and late-enrollment penalties. The Part B penalty generally increases the monthly premium by 10% for each full 12-month period you could have enrolled but did not, unless an exception applies. People receiving Social Security benefits at least four months before turning 65 generally are enrolled automatically in Medicare Parts A and B. Otherwise, the seven-month Initial Enrollment Period generally begins three months before the month you turn 65. If you or your spouse are still working and you have qualifying employer group health coverage based on that current employment, you may be able to delay Part B without penalty. The eight-month Special Enrollment Period generally begins when the employment or coverage ends, whichever occurs first; COBRA and retiree coverage do not extend that period. Confirm the applicable timing with the employer’s human resources department and Medicare. Medicare is complex, and Beacon Pointe is here to help provide Medicare education and enrollment assistance.
Medicare does not cover everything, so compare the two principal ways to receive coverage: Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. With Original Medicare, a Medigap policy may help pay certain out-of-pocket costs under Parts A and B, but it does not include prescription drug coverage; consider whether separate Part D coverage is appropriate. The federal Medigap Open Enrollment Period generally lasts six months beginning the first month you are age 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During that period, insurers generally cannot deny an available Medigap policy or charge more because of pre-existing health conditions. Medicare Advantage is an alternative way to receive Part A and Part B benefits through a Medicare-approved private plan; most plans include Part D and some additional benefits, but premiums, provider networks, prior-authorization requirements, and out-of-pocket costs vary by plan. Please contact your Beacon Pointe advisor for enrollment assistance.
5. Protect Your Professional and Personal Transition
Stepping away from medicine involves more than choosing a retirement date. Give yourself time to thoughtfully wind down your patient responsibilities and understand how leaving or reducing your role may affect your employment agreement, practice ownership, malpractice and tail coverage and retirement benefits. If you hope to remain involved in medicine, decide what level of licensure and credentials you will need to continue teaching, consulting or practicing on a limited basis.
Your transition at home deserves equal attention. A changing schedule and professional identity can affect your relationships, routines and sense of purpose. Thinking ahead about how you want to spend your time, whether with family, traveling, mentoring or serving your community, can help make the next phase feel purposeful rather than abrupt.
6. Reassess Disability, Life and Long-Term Care Planning
As retirement approaches, consider whether your disability coverage is still necessary and how long it will remain in force. Life insurance should also be reviewed in light of your current assets, remaining obligations and the financial security you want to provide for your spouse or family. At this stage, long-term care planning may need to become more concrete, with a clear understanding of how future care would be funded and who could help oversee it if needed.
7. Prepare Your Estate Plan for Retirement
Your estate plan should reflect the life and financial circumstances you are entering, not those in place when the documents were originally signed. Consider meeting with your estate attorney if your plan has not been reviewed recently or if your family, assets, residence or wishes have changed. Confirm that the people authorized to make financial and healthcare decisions on your behalf are still appropriate and that your beneficiary designations remain aligned with your broader plan. If you own a practice or other business interest, your transition plan should also provide clear direction for how that interest would be managed or transferred upon your retirement, incapacity or passing.
8. Before You Leave, Know Your Contractual Rights and Duties
The final steps depend on how you are employed and whether ownership is involved. Please ensure you review the documents that govern compensation, benefits, equity, patient continuity, liabilities and post-exit duties before announcing a retirement date or a reduced schedule.
- Hospital or Health-System Employee – Remember to consider every benefit and payout rule, including your vesting and forfeiture dates. Also, review your notice, repayment obligations, restrictive covenants, outside-work rules, productivity reconciliations, patient handoff and record access. You should also consider whether consulting, teaching, telemedicine or locums work is permitted after your departure. Please also confirm malpractice, tail coverage and final benefit elections in writing.
- Physician-Group Employee or Equity Partner – It is important to separate your employment rights from ownership rights. Review the employment, partnership, buy-sell, shareholder and compensation documents together. Confirm the equity formula, valuation date, payment schedule, offsets, security and the group’s capacity to pay. Then, address disability and death provisions, patient reassignment, final collections, capital calls, indemnification and governance exit.
9. Integrate Your Exit with Your Household Plan
Work with your tax, wealth and legal advisors to understand how the payments from your practice transition will be structured and taxed. Coordinate the amount and timing of those proceeds with your broader retirement income plan, including Social Security, pensions and portfolio withdrawals. Before stepping away, make sure the practice has a clear plan for its remaining financial commitments, employees and malpractice responsibilities, as well as any role you intend to maintain.
10. Choose a Target Retirement Date
Continuing to practice can feel like the financially responsible choice, particularly during your peak earning years. Before extending your career by default, ask your Beacon Pointe advisory team to show you how another year might affect your retirement, family, or charitable goals. Knowing when work has become a choice can help you set a thoughtful retirement date and approach the years ahead with greater confidence and purpose.
No matter where you are in your financial journey, thoughtful planning can help you prepare for what lies ahead. Explore our tailored financial tips for those in their thirties, forties, fifties, and seventies to learn more about the key priorities and planning opportunities to consider during each decade.
If you could benefit from a conversation with our advisory team, we would be happy to provide a complimentary consultation.
Important Disclosure: Beacon Pointe Advisors, LLC (“Beacon Pointe”) is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration does not imply a particular level of skill or training. Beacon Pointe does not provide legal or tax advice. This material is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as individualized investment, tax, legal, accounting, insurance, healthcare, or employment advice. The considerations discussed may not apply to every individual and depend on personal circumstances, applicable law, and the terms of relevant employment, ownership, compensation, benefit, insurance, and estate-planning documents. You should consult the appropriate legal, tax, insurance, healthcare, and other professional advisers before taking action. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Beacon Pointe is not responsible for errors or omissions in materials accessed through links to third-party websites and does not necessarily approve or endorse the information provided in those materials.