Retire at 65? It’s More Like 62.
The Wall Street Journal, Anne Tergesen
Americans stop working earlier than planned, but tend to enjoy retirement.
There is a big gap between how workers envision the timing of retirement and the reality for retirees, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s latest installment of its 34-year survey of workers and retirees released Thursday.
Some 28% of workers said they expected to retire at age 65, up from 23% a year ago. This was the median answer to the question for workers and remains the default age of retirement in the popular imagination. The median actual age of retirement has been 62 for several years, the survey found—which is the earliest retirees can claim Social Security benefits.
Workers are chronically overly optimistic about how long they can remain on the job, said Craig Copeland, director of wealth-benefits research at EBRI. That raises the stakes of how much they need to save.
People also imagine they will continue to work more after retirement than they actually do. While 75% expect to work for pay in some capacity in retirement, only 30% of retirees said they have actually done so, the survey found.