“When should I retire?” 65 is typically the age that is used to calculate the beginning of retirement. In fact, nearly 67% of all workers expect to retire at age 65 or older. However, actual experience suggests that only 23% of workers get to this goal. That is due to several reasons, not all of them good.
Reasons cited for retiring earlier than planned include:
- Health reasons – 60%
- Changes at company (downsizing/closing) – 27%
- Care for spouse or family member – 22%
- Outdated skills – 10%
- Able to afford early retirement – 31%
- Want to do something else – 17%
Why this important to retirement planning is that the final years of your career are typically the most lucrative and cutting this period short will not only result in less earnings, but it will start retirement spending earlier than expected. Therefore, when planning for the future, keep in mind that you may not have complete control over your retirement date and it is prudent to factor in some flexibility into this estimate.
