I disagree...Suze

This morning, while grabbing my one cup of coffee (without sugar now) .. yuck( it is taking some getting used to)! ..I was sitting in the kitchen watching a morning television show with my husband.  They had Suze Orman on as a guest to answer a few callers questions about money.  As much as I usually love Suze and usually agree wholeheartedly with what she says, I did not agree with her today. Perhaps it was due to the fact that there were only a few minutes for this Q & A, but here it is. A woman who is 60 wanted to know if she could retire next year. She has over $750K in retirement and other accounts, home owned free and clear, no other debts, no dependents and she clearly stated she does not spend a lot every month for living expenses.  This to me equals someone who is frugal with money and doesn't go on a lot of trips or shopping sprees.  Suze's answer?  NO WAY. .She told this woman she would not be eligible for social security for years and should work until she is 70 for the best security. It isn't that I don't agree that yes, she will get the most in social security benefits the longer she waits to retire, and she won't get any social security for at least a few years but my thinking is this... 

By owning her home free and clear she only has taxes and insurance and whatever maintenance costs there are. The fact that she may be able to retire next year gives me the impression that she is going to be eligible for pension at that time which would be a monthly income. Depending on how much that pension is, she could possibly live on THAT, until her social security would kick in, that granted yes, would be less per month but maybe she doesn't need to worry about getting all she can in social security benefits. 

If she can live on the pension she gets, she doesn't even need to touch the $750K she has in retirement and other investments, which could still continue to earn interest/dividends until she does want to tap into them.  And with no additional interest income whatsoever, if she takes out (when she can with no penalty) $25,000/yr to live on...that $750K should last her 30 years, so at this current juncture..this equates to well into her 90s before it is gone.  And that is just if she has to tap into it at all.

I'm just saying that this poor woman on the other end of the phone who probably had her heart set on retiring next year, just got some depressing news that she should really wait another 10 YEARS.  This is assuming she can still work, is healthy enough..etc... I just wish Suze would have asked a few more questions instead of bursting the bubble for this hopeful woman who obviously was looking forward to retiring into thinking she needs to work for another 10 years....

I hope this lady gets another opinion.   :-)