But those not quite willing to give up on the dream might consider an alternative approach. Christine Fahlund, a senior financial planner for T. Rowe Price, suggests people consider using their 60s as a “practice retirement,’’ where they keep working, but stop funding retirement plans and use the money to have fun.

What does “practice retirement’’ look like? Instead of retiring and sailing around the world, you might keep working and simply buy a boat; rather than spending the winter on a Florida golf course, take a deluxe golf vacation. Spend a week at cooking classes in Paris, on a bike trip, or seeing Broadway shows in New York.

“The idea is to have your employer fund the fun,’’ Fahlund said.

Moreover, diverting those 10 years of retirement savings to discretionary income has a much smaller impact on retirement than one might expect. By continuing to work, you keep both your salary and your workplace benefits intact. Moreover, each year you delay retirement eliminates a year that has to be financed with savings.

Given today’s life expectancies, that can have a big impact on the numbers. According to the Society of Actuaries, some 13 percent of men and 20 percent of women now aged 65 will still be alive at age 95. Retiring early for them would mean funding more than three decades of retirement with assets accumulated during roughly four decades of work. Simply staying in the workforce a few more years makes that equation easier to balance.

Then, too, there’s the fact that delaying Social Security greatly increases your benefits. Waiting to age 70 almost doubles the annual purchasing power compared with starting benefits at age 62, Fahlund said. And those higher benefits are not only indexed to inflation, but will continue for the rest of their lives.

Consider the example of a couple, each age 60, with a combined salary of $100,000 and a $500,000 nest egg. They’ve been tucking away 15 percent of their annual salary in their retirement plans. If they retire at 62 and start taking Social Security, they end up with an annual retirement income of $51,974 and about $526,000 in retirement savings when they hit age 70.

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'Practice retirement' an option for those with small nest eggs - The Boston Globe