Retirees Get This Wrong About Retirement Age

Most people approaching retirement have an age in mind. Maybe it’s 62, 65, or 67. And we tend to think of that age as a decision.

But how does that compare with what actually happens?

Because according to the latest Retirement Confidence Survey, there’s a pretty big difference between the age people plan to retire and when retirement actually happens.

What Age Do Most People Actually Retire?

The Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research surveyed more than 1,000 retirees in 2026 and asked them a very simple question: Did you retire earlier than planned, about when planned, or later than planned?

So before we look at the answer, think about your own retirement. If you’re already retired, did you actually retire when you thought you would? And if you’re not retired yet, how confident are you that you’ll make it to the age you have in mind?

Because here’s what happened with the retirees in this survey.

Only 48% said they retired about when they planned. Another 6% worked longer than expected. But 46% retired earlier than they planned to.

Think about that.

There are almost as many people who retired early as there are people who retired on schedule.

And this isn’t some strange one-year result. If you go back through this survey over the last couple of decades, retiring earlier than planned has consistently been very common.

Why Do People Retire Earlier Than Planned?

So the obvious question is: why?

What causes someone who thinks they’re going to work until 65 or 67 to suddenly retire at 62 or 63?

People who retired earlier than planned could give more than one reason. The most common was health. 41% said a health problem or disability played a role.

Other reasons included:

16% said they had to care for a spouse or another family member.
35% pointed to changes at their company, things like downsizing, closures, or reorganizations.
16% were offered some type of early retirement package.

But there was also a very different reason near the top of the list.

36% said they simply realized they could afford to retire earlier than they originally planned.

And I think that’s an important distinction.

The Two Types of Early Retirement

There are really two very different versions of early retirement in this data.

Some people reached the point where work became optional. For others, the decision was made, at least partly, by circumstances outside their control.

When EBRI grouped all of those responses together, they found that 76% of the people who retired early cited at least one reason that was outside their control.

That number really stood out to me.

Think about how we normally talk about retirement age. Should I retire at 62? Should I wait until 65? Should I work until 67 so I can reach full retirement age for Social Security? Should I hang on until 70?

Those are all good questions.

But when you compare those conversations with what actually happened to the retirees in this survey, there’s something missing.

Can You Control When You Retire?

We tend to assume we’ll have the option to keep working. And a lot of people do. But clearly, a lot of people don’t.

Health changes. Family circumstances change. Companies restructure. Jobs disappear.

Or maybe you get to 63, look at your finances, and realize you’ve already got enough.

And I think that last possibility deserves more attention.

If you're planning to retire at 67, but at 63 you discover that you’re financially capable of retiring, now you have a choice.

You can keep working. You can retire. You can cut back. You can go do something completely different.

That’s a very different position from being 63 and knowing that your financial plan absolutely requires four more years of work.

Why Retirement Planning Should Include Flexibility

This is one of the reasons I like to see people become financially capable of retiring before the date they actually intend to retire.

That doesn’t mean you have to quit working. If you love your job and want to keep going, great.

But there’s a big difference between planning to work until 67 and needing to work until 67

What Happens If You Retire Earlier Than Planned?

So if you’re five or ten years away from retirement, I wouldn’t just ask, “What age do I want to retire?”

I’d look at the age you have in mind and ask another question:

What would happen if that age changed?

If you’re planning on 67, what happens at 65? What happens at 63? Would the plan still work?

Maybe health insurance becomes an issue because you’re not eligible for Medicare yet. Maybe you have to rely on your portfolio for a few additional years. Maybe your Social Security claiming strategy changes. Maybe you simply need more liquid assets available to bridge those years.

You don’t have to build a plan that works perfectly at every possible retirement age. But I do think you want to know how much flexibility you have.

How to Prepare for an Unexpected Early Retirement

The interesting thing about this survey isn’t just that 46% of retirees retired earlier than planned.

It’s why.

For some people, life made the decision for them. For others, their finances gave them the ability to make the decision sooner.

And if I had to choose between those two situations, I know which one I’d rather be in.

If you want to see how prepared you are for retirement right now, I’ve put together a Retirement Readiness Assessment that walks you through some of the biggest areas you need to have covered before you leave work.

It takes just a few minutes, and at the end you’ll get a score along with some areas where your plan may need more attention.

Because maybe the question isn’t just, “What age am I going to retire?”

It’s, “How much control will I have over that decision when the time comes?”