The conventional wisdom has long held that retiring at 65 is the golden age of retirement, a time when one can finally relax and enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of hard work. However, as the saying goes, 'all that glitters is not gold', and in the case of retirement, the numbers tell a different story. Retiring at 62 costs the average American a staggering $250,000 in lifetime income, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. The real issue lies in the fact that Americans are living longer, and the traditional retirement age of 65 was never designed to accommodate this new reality. In this article, I will delve into the reasons why retiring early can be a costly mistake, and why we need to rethink the very concept of retirement itself. I will also explore the neuroscience behind cognitive decline and its impact on financial decision-making, and offer some solutions for a more sustainable retirement framework. From my perspective, the conventional wisdom of retiring at 65 is a dangerous myth that needs to be dispelled, and it is time to build a retirement system that is built for longer lives, not shorter ones.
