Turning 62? This is the earliest age at which most people are eligible for Social Security. (Widows and widowers may be eligible at age 60, or age 50 if disabled.) If you take early benefits, your payments will be permanently reduced, compared with what you’d get if you wait until your official “full” retirement age;   that’s 66 for anyone born between 1943 and 1954, for example. You can delay benefits until age 70 in return for even higher checks; after 70, however, benefits max out, so you might as well start collecting. The complete list of ages and benefit computations is available at the Social Security Web site, www.ssa.gov. While there, you can also run various when-if scenarios using the Retirement Estimator.

Also at age 62, you become eligible for a reverse mortgage, which allows you to tap into your home’s equity without having to sell and move. Note, however, that these loans can have some serious pitfalls,
including relatively high costs, so they’re not to be entered into lightly, if at all.

Turning 65? Now you’re eligible for Medicare. Plan to apply three months before your birthday. Another helpful site is the Medicare Rights Center.

Turning 70½? This is when you’ll generally have to begin taking required minimum distributions from your retirement plans. (Roth plans, which have no such requirement, are an exception.)

—Greg Daugherty

Greg writes the “Retirement Guy” column each month in the Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter.