The average retirement age in the U.S. is 61, according to a 2022 Gallup survey. But the target age for retirement is 66.
I am surprised the age would be so young. My dad retired at 67 but went right back to work a year later, still working now (71). Health insurance do be expensive. I wonder how this statistic would capture someone like him. My mother was working until she died at 60, but would have likely been in a similar situation, trying to keep working as long as possible, certainly was not looking at retirement within a year or two.
My wife’s parents are younger (late 50s) but in the same boat, there is no path to retirement for them and they plan to just keep working. The only people I know who managed to retire by any conventional definition are or were Silent Generation.
As it says, these are people forced into retirement. As a counter anecdote, both my parents had to retire early for health reasons even though they couldn’t really afford it and are now on disability plus they had to take withdrawals from Social Security early so they get a reduced payment.
I guess that number makes since to me. Seems like there would be a good bit that have to retire at 52 due to health issues and another bit that works till 74. With average average being 65-67 I would say 61 sound about right.