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.
1. Define Your Transition and Plan Your Transition Bridge
Start planning your transition at least 2-3 years before your intended retirement or reduction in clinical duties. 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 will not only give you peace of mind, but also helps 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 create a plan to get you on track and give you the framework to make 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
One of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make in your sixties is deciding how and when to take Social Security. While most Americans need to collect Social Security as soon as it is available (age 62 or 60 if you are widowed) to make ends meet, Beacon Pointe’s top tip here is to avoid taking benefits too soon. Taking benefits at 62 means you will only receive about 70% of the monthly benefit otherwise available to you at your full retirement age (“FRA”), which is 67 for those born in 1960 or later. Plus, if you are still working while collecting Social Security and haven’t reached your FRA, Social Security will reduce your benefits by $1 for every $2 earned over the earnings cap ($24,480 in 2026). Delaying taking benefits until age 70 can increase your benefit up to 124% of your FRA benefit, so if you can swing it and have a normal to long life expectancy, it probably makes sense to take advantage of the 8% annual bump in benefits you’d receive by delaying until you are age 70 (don’t delay taking spousal benefits beyond your FRA as these do not increase after FRA). For questions or an estimate of your benefits, contact Social Security (800) 772-1213 or go to http://www.ssa.gov/.
4. Apply for Medicare on Time
If you do not apply for Medicare during your Initial Enrollment Period, you may face a gap in coverage and permanently pay higher premiums (Part B premiums increase 10% for each 12-month period you delayed). Unless you are already receiving Social Security before your 65th birthday, you won’t be automatically enrolled in Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) and Part B (medical insurance) and will need to enroll during the Initial Enrollment Period (“IEP”) seven-month period that starts three months before the month in which you turn 65. You may not have to sign up for Medicare Part B or pay Part B premiums if you or your spouse are still working and are covered under an employer’s plan. If you are eligible for a Special Enrollment Period (“SEP”), it extends your enrollment period until 8 months after the termination of employment or healthcare coverage. Be sure to check with the employer’s human resources department, as some coverage won’t qualify you for a SEP, so you will need to sign up during your IEP. Medicare is complex, and Beacon Pointe is here to help provide you with Medicare education and enrollment assistance.
Medicare doesn’t cover everything, so when you sign up, you should also consider a Medigap or Medicare Advantage plan. For an additional premium, a Medigap policy supplements your Medicare Part A and B coverage to reduce your out-of-pocket costs but does not cover prescription drugs, so you should also consider enrolling in Part D when enrolling in Part A and B if you go the Medigap route. If you decide to purchase a Medigap policy, do so during your IEP to guarantee acceptance and avoid premium penalties. Alternatively, consider a Medicare Advantage plan if you want lower premiums and are comfortable working within a network. These Part C plans replace your Part A and B coverage and typically add in prescription drug, dental and vision care coverage, but through the plan’s providers. 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 credentialing 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 should 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 whether another year would meaningfully improve your retirement, family or charitable goals—or simply add to an already large nest egg. 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 does not offer legal or tax advice. Please consult with the appropriate tax or legal professional regarding your circumstances. This information is not intended and should not be relied upon as individualized tax, legal, fiduciary, or investment advice. Only a tax or legal professional may recommend the application of this general information to any particular situation or prepare an instrument chosen to implement any design discussed herein. Nothing herein should be relied upon as personalized investment advice, nor should it be considered an individualized recommendation, offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or to adopt a specific investment strategy. An investor should consult with their financial professional before making any investment decisions. Beacon Pointe is not responsible for errors or omissions in the material on third-party websites and does not necessarily approve or endorse the information provided.