Jul 10, 2026
Most American workers assume they’ll call it quits around 65. But most are wrong, and the gap between expectation and reality carries serious financial consequences.
According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)’s 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey reported by USA Today, nearly half of retirees (46%) left the workforce earlier than planned. The average actual retirement age was 62, while the average age workers expect to retire remains 65.
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A separate study paints an equally striking picture. The Society of Actuaries Research Institute (SARI)’s 2024 Retirement Risk Survey — which surveyed 2,012 Americans aged 45 to 80 — found that 59% of retirees left the workforce before they had expected, while only 6% retired later than planned.
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So what’s driving those early exits? Three causes dominate the data — and two of them have nothing to do with personal choice.
1. Health setbacks
Health problems are the single most common cause of unplanned early retirement, and they fall hardest on lower-income workers. According to the SARI report, changes in health status were cited by 49% of retirees with incomes under $35,000 as the main reason for retiring early.
The EBRI survey reinforces this finding, with TheStreet noting that 41% of those who retired early did so because of a health problem or disability — 10% more than the year before.
That financial impact compounds quickly. Retiring at 62 instead of 65 means three fewer years of contributions, three additional years of withdrawals and — critically — three years without employer-sponsored health insurance before Medicare eligibility begins at 65.
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2. Job loss and employer-driven disruption
The second major cause of early retirement isn’t voluntary either. Corporate restructuring, downsizing and business closures accounted for 35% of early retirements, according to EBRI. When older workers lose jobs, re-employment at comparable wages is often difficult to achieve — and many effectively retire by default rather than by design.
The SARI report confirms job loss as a consistent factor across all income levels, impacting 18% to 20% of early retirees regardless of household income. It was circumstances like this and health-related events — entirely outside a worker’s control — that drove 76% of all unplanned early retirements last year, TheStreet reported based on the EBRI survey.
“Certainly, those are not people doing it because they want to,” coauthor of the report Timothy Geddes, a managing director at Deloitte Consulting, told USA Today. “They’re doing it because they have to.”
3. Job dissatisfaction — the one factor within your control
For higher-income workers, the picture looks different. The SARI report found that among retirees with incomes over $75,000, job dissatisfaction was the leading reason for early retirement, cited by 29% of respondents — ahead of health or job loss. Achieving a savings goal earlier than expected ranked second at 24%.
For these workers, early retirement is a choice, and sometimes an active one.
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“Some of the high-income retirees reported that they achieved their financial goals, so they stopped working,” Geddes told USA Today. “And that’s not in any way negative.”
What to do if retirement arrives ahead of schedule
The financial math of early retirement is unforgiving if you’re unprepared. As of this year, the median retirement savings balance for a 50-year-old American is $460,363. But $1 million or more is often cited as a target.
The good news is that the tax code provides specific tools for people in their late 50s and early 60s to accelerate savings. According to the IRS, workers aged 50 and older can contribute an additional $8,000 to a 401(k) above the standard limit, and workers aged 60 to 63 qualify for an even larger catch-up contribution of $11,250.
Separately, Social Security’s delayed claiming strategy remains one of the most powerful levers available: For each year you delay claiming beyond 62, your monthly benefit grows — reaching its maximum at age 70. Plus, stopping work doesn’t require you to claim immediately, and for those who can manage on savings or a spouse’s income, delaying benefits by even a few years can significantly increase lifetime income.
“There’s a great deal of making adjustments and learning to live with what you have,” Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI, told USA Today.
That means for the majority of Americans who won’t get to choose exactly when they retire, building flexibility into the plan, rather than betting on working until 65, can be the more reliable strategy.
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With a writing and editing career spanning over 15 years, Emma creates and refines content across a broad spectrum of industries, including personal finance, lifestyle, travel, health & wellness, real estate, beauty & fitness and B2B/SaaS/tech.
