RMD start age is fixed by birth year alone, 73 for those born 1951 through 1959, 75 for those born in 1960 or later, and it applies the same way regardless of employment or retirement status once you own a traditional IRA. Retiring at 62 instead of 65 does not move this date in either direction. This directly contradicts a common assumption that retiring earlier somehow buys extra years before required distributions begin, it doesn't.

The still-working exception is narrower than most people assume, and it disappears the moment you retire. It applies only to the 401(k) or 403(b) of your current employer, only while you're actively employed there, and only if you don't own more than 5% of the company. Retiring at 62 eliminates this option for that account entirely, regardless of your birth year, since once you separate from service, RMDs on that former employer's plan apply the same way they would to an IRA once you reach your RMD age.

The three extra years between 62 and 65, and often several more if Social Security is delayed to 67 or 70, are real leverage, not a consolation prize. This window is frequently the best Roth conversion opportunity a household ever gets: no wages, no RMDs yet, and Social Security not yet claimed, which together produce unusually low taxable income and wide bracket space to convert into. Every dollar converted during these years is a dollar that will never generate a future RMD.

What that means for the eventual RMD amount depends entirely on what you do with those three years, not on the retirement date itself. Spend down or convert pre-tax balances between 62 and your RMD age, and the remaining balance driving the RMD calculation at 73 or 75 is smaller than it would have been. Leave the portfolio untouched and simply let it compound for those extra years, and the eventual RMD can end up larger purely from investment growth. Retiring at 62 hands you three additional years of control over the account before RMDs are forced; whether that control shrinks or grows your eventual RMD is a function of what you do with the years, not a fixed outcome of the retirement date.

The lower income typical of the 62-to-65 gap years is also often the safest window to run larger conversions without tripping an IRMAA tier, since the two-year Medicare premium lookback that starts mattering once you're on Medicare will be measuring exactly these lower-income years.

Social Security timing layers on top of this. Retiring at 62 doesn't require claiming Social Security at 62, and many households retire at 62 while deliberately delaying the claim to 67 or 70 to maximize the benefit. Doing that stretches the low-income window even further, since income stays low until either Social Security starts or RMDs begin, whichever comes first, which usually means the household gets several additional years of low-bracket space to convert into before either source of income arrives and starts competing for the same bracket room.

A spousal age gap changes the picture further, and it's easy to overlook. If one spouse retires at 62 and the other is several years younger and still working, the household's income during the gap years isn't actually as low as a single retiree's would be, which narrows the conversion window and changes how aggressively the household should convert during those years. RMD age is still set individually by each spouse's own birth year, so a couple can have two entirely different RMD start dates, and the plan has to account for both rather than treating the household as a single clock.

If you're retiring at 62, don't assume you've bought a three-year delay on RMDs, you haven't. Use the years between 62 and your RMD age deliberately, for conversions, income smoothing, or drawdown, since what happens during those years is what actually determines your eventual RMD size.

If you were counting on the still-working exception to delay RMDs past 65, retiring ends that option immediately. Model your RMD start date as if that exception never existed once you've separated from the employer.

If you're also delaying Social Security past 62, treat the entire stretch from retirement to whichever comes first, your Social Security claim or your RMD start age, as one continuous planning window rather than evaluating each year in isolation.

• Assuming retiring earlier pushes back the RMD start age, it does not; RMD age is set entirely by birth year.
• Believing the still-working exception still applies to a former employer's plan after you've separated from service.
• Leaving a large pre-tax balance untouched through a decade of early retirement and being surprised the eventual RMD is larger than expected, growth alone can build a bigger required distribution than a shorter working career would have.
• Not using the low-income years right after early retirement for Roth conversions before Social Security and RMDs both add income back on top of the account balance.