I’m 61. My wife and I have $1M saved and will get $14K a month in pensions. We own 3 homes — but won’t pay them off for 28 years. Can I retire next year?

Question: “I’m 61 and plan to retire when I turn 62. I will get a $3,375 monthly from my pension, $2,515 monthly from Social Security and I have $1 million in my 401(k). My 68-year-old wife has been retired for seven years and has a lifetime pension of $10,000 a month.

We have three homes, two in California. Our primary home in Texas is worth $650,000 and we owe $315,000. In California, we have a rental worth $950,000, on which we owe about $330,000, and a condo valued at $650,000 where our daughter lives and pays rent. We owe about $370,000 on the condo. We have a 2.75% interest rates on all three properties, but 28 years left to repay them since we refinanced recently. We plan to sell our home in Texas to move closer to our daughter.

Can I afford to retire before I can get Social Security? My wife did not contribute to Social Security and I think is ineligible for Medicare until I collect benefits so she can get Medicare as a spouse. I plan to draw on my 401(k) until I can collect Social Security. Are we good candidates to hire a financial adviser? Would an adviser be able to tell us when I can retire and how much I need to have saved to retire early?”

Answer: Kudos to you both for building equity in your homes, a nice investment portfolio and numerous sources of guaranteed income. That said, there are a lot of questions you’ll need answered before you can know if you can afford to retire at 62 — and pros say that yes, a financial adviser could be helpful to you. You can use this free tool to get matched with fiduciary advisers from our ad partner SmartAsset, as well as sites like CFP Board and NAPFA.

Have an issue with your financial planner or looking for a new one? Email questions or concerns to picks@marketwatch.com.

“Whether you can afford to retire is going to largely depend on your total monthly expenses and any other nonrecurring expenses that you anticipate over the years,” says certified financial planner Jason Dall’Acqua at Crest Wealth Advisors. You’ll need to create a budget to ensure that your pension income will cover your monthly expenses in addition to your mortgages.

To help calculate all these costs, first, “you’ll need to account for your health insurance costs until you turn 65. You’ll also need to account for how much you’re spending right now,” says certified financial planner Jeremy Keil, author of Retire Today: Create Your Retirement Master Plan in 5 Simple Steps. “The best way to predict how much you’ll spend in retirement is to look at your take-home pay that goes into your checking account. What goes into your checking account usually gets spent, so when you create a retirement spending plan that accounts for your current take-home pay, your expected health insurance costs before and after 65 and the tax costs you’ll need beyond your take-home and health costs, then you’re on the right track,” says Keil. 

With an initial monthly pension income of nearly $14,000 excluding Social Security, you have a good amount of guaranteed income, which will help you reduce the amount you need to withdraw from your portfolio. “Keep in mind that if your 401(k) is all pre-tax funds, you’ll have to pay taxes on that money as you withdraw it,” says Dall’Acqua. That said, if your portfolio withdrawal rate is low enough and your assets are invested in an appropriate manner specific to your financial picture and retirement needs, then Dall’Acqua says an early retirement could be reasonable.

With two lifetime pensions providing steady income, a $1 million 401(k) and low mortgage rates, certified financial planner Robin Lovely at The Women’s Advisory Group says you’re likely in a good spot to retire. “You have a solid foundation and selling your Texas home can also free up additional equity to support your move and future plans,” says Lovely.

You also mention both of your pensions, but you don’t mention your survivorship situation. “A huge part of your pension decision is how you take your survivorship [typically higher survivor benefits now mean a lower monthly payment with continuing payment for your spouse after your death, or a higher payout for you now with no benefit for your spouse]. I suggest you make the pension decision keeping in mind the full [purpose] of Social Security, Old Age & Survivors Insurance (OASI). Make your pension based on what’s best for you in your old age, what’s best for your survivor and view it as insurance, not an investment. It’s insurance in case your costs go up more than you expect and your investments get used up quicker than you expect,” says Keil. This way you’ll be covered one way or another for the duration of your lives.

You mention that your wife didn’t contribute to Social Security and is ineligible for Medicare until you collect benefits. “You’re mostly correct, but you don’t have to collect benefits [for her to get Medicare].  You just need to be 62 years old for one full month, so if your birthday is Feb. 15, 1965, then your wife is able to sign up for Medicare part A and pay no premium starting March 15, 2027,” says Keil.

Do you need a financial adviser?

A financial adviser could be valuable to you as they can put all of the pieces of your financial puzzle together. “They can help you understand when you can retire, what you need to do before retirement to increase your odds of success, how much you’ll need to pull from investments every year and how your money needs to be invested for both short- and long-term needs,” says Dall’Acqua.

Financial adviser Carlos Dias Jr. at Dias Wealth says you’d benefit from working with a fee-only financial adviser who provides a one-time plan to navigate your unique circumstances. “Whether you need ongoing services and portfolio management is up to you,” says Dias.

Simply put, Lovely says an adviser would be beneficial to help you fine-tune your timeline, especially regarding Social Security, Medicare for your wife and the best way to draw down retirement savings. “Things aren’t off track, but because you have choices to make that will impact you long-term, it’s a smart time for guidance,” says Lovely.

Finally, keep in mind that when you work with a financial adviser, you should come away with more than just answers about whether or not you’re ready to retire. “You should have a clearer idea of when to retire and why, how you will use your assets and in what order you will employ each asset. Since pensions, real estate and staggered Social Security eligibility are involved, you’ll want a planner to not only show you the outcome but test your assumptions, show you tax ramifications of retiring this year versus next year and model what happens if expenses exceed expectations or the market corrects,” says certified financial planner Eric Croak at Croak Capital. You can use this free tool to get matched with fiduciary advisers, from our ad partner SmartAsset, as well as sites like CFP Board and NAPFA.

Have an issue with your financial planner or looking for a new one? Email questions or concerns to picks@marketwatch.com.

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