Quick Read
About 40% of Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 have zero retirement savings, making Social Security their sole income source in retirement.
Delaying Social Security from 62 to 70 swings monthly benefits by over $1,000, then compounds upward with every annual COLA.
Working longer simultaneously delays claiming, builds a cash cushion, and preserves health insurance until Medicare kicks in at 65.
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Mark is 58, works full time, and keeps a running tally in his head of what he owes at the end of the month. His paycheck covers rent, groceries, the car payment, and the occasional repair that cannot wait. His 401(k) balance is zero. He never opened an IRA. When friends talk about their portfolios, he changes the subject. He is not alone: about 40% of Americans ages 55 to 65 have no retirement account, according to AARP data analyzed by Apollo Global Management’s chief economist.
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For Mark, Social Security is the whole plan. That gives every decision from here forward more weight. A recent online post from a man in a similar spot put it plainly: he had spent his working life just keeping the lights on, and now, with a few years left, he wanted to know what he could still do that would actually matter. That is the real question.
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The Claiming Age Decision Is the Big One
When Social Security is the only paycheck coming in, the age you first claim sets your standard of living for the rest of your life. You can start as early as 62, but each year you claim before your full retirement age trims the monthly check. Claiming at 62 instead of 67 typically means roughly a 30% permanent reduction. Going the other way, each year you delay past full retirement age up to 70 adds about 8% to your check.
Put dollars on it. If Mark’s benefit at 67 would be $2,000 a month, claiming at 62 gets him closer to $1,400. Waiting until 70 pushes him toward $2,480. That is a swing of more than $1,000 a month, every month, for the rest of his life, and the higher base can also increase a surviving spouse’s eventual benefit. Cost-of-living raises then compound off that starting number. The 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) came in at 2.8%, and a bigger base means a bigger raise in dollar terms every year.
For someone with no other savings, that starting number is the single most important lever left.
How the Rest of the Picture Fits
Two other pieces matter more than people expect.
First, working longer. First, working longer. More than 11 million Americans age 65 or older were still employed in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). For Mark, working through 65 does three things at once: it delays claiming, lets him build even a small cushion, and keeps health insurance flowing until Medicare kicks in. Median full-time weekly earnings for workers ages 55 to 64 were $1,367 in the second quarter of 2026, so another year on the job can be worth tens of thousands.
Second, fixed costs. Social Security typically replaces only a portion of prior earnings, so every recurring bill follows Mark into retirement. Shrinking those bills, whether that means downsizing, moving to a less expensive area, or paying off the car, likely does more for him now than chasing an investment miracle. The latest federal price data range from around 87 in Arkansas and Mississippi to about 110 in California and Hawaii. Geography is a lever.
A warning for anyone who does have a small balance somewhere: in a 2025 Payroll Integrations survey, 38% of employees said they had tapped retirement funds at least once, rising to 41% among Gen Xers and boomers. Draining what little is there right before retirement is the hardest mistake to undo.
What Actually Matters From Here
Two things deserve most of the attention:
Protect the claiming age. Every year Mark can hold off filing raises his monthly check for life. If he can bridge to 67 or 70 with part-time work, the difference is measured in hundreds of dollars a month.
Cut the fixed nut. Lowering the monthly bills he will carry into retirement stretches every Social Security dollar further than any last-minute investing strategy could.
None of this fixes the fact that starting late is hard. But a BlackRock survey found 62% of respondents had less than $150,000 saved, and CEO Larry Fink said “almost no one” was close to the roughly $2.1 million respondents believed they would need. Mark has more company than he realizes, and the two levers above are the ones still in his hands. Individual circumstances vary, and small details, like a spouse’s benefit or a state tax rule, can meaningfully shift the answer.
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