What Is a Good Age to Retire for You?

Part of a sound retirement planning strategy involves choosing the right age to retire. The normal retirement age is typically 66 to 67 for most people. This is when you can begin drawing your full Social Security retirement benefit. However, the median age is only 62, meaning many people retire before becoming eligible for their full Social Security benefits. Ultimately, there’s no magic formula for finding the right retirement age and the timing that works for you may not work for someone else.

A financial advisor can help you sort through all the factors that go into making a wise decision about when to retire.

When Do Most People Retire?

Retirement ages in the U.S. vary based on financial readiness, health and personal preferences, but trends provide a general picture of when most people stop working. According to a 2026 Gallup survey, the average retirement age in America is 61 years old. However, most Americans expect to retire at 66. This gap may explain why 1 in 5 Americans thinks they’ll have to work a part-time job as a retiree. In fact, more than half of Americans aged 18-54 believe they won’t have enough saved at retirement to live comfortably. ¹

Finding the Right Age to Retire for You

Choosing when to retire can depend on several things. As you try to narrow down your ideal retirement age, consider:

• What type of lifestyle you’d like to have in retirement
• How much money you’ll need monthly and annually to sustain that lifestyle
• Your current retirement savings rate and existing assets
• The investment strategy and risk tolerance
• How long do you anticipate living in retirement
• Which income sources do you expect to have (i.e. Social Security, a 401(k) plan, pension, taxable accounts, etc.)
• How much do you anticipate spending on healthcare and whether long-term care may be necessary
• What your tax situation will look like in retirement

One of the biggest concerns when planning for retirement is ensuring that you don’t outlive your money. In other words, you need to be saving enough during your working years to cover your expenses from the time you retire until the end of your life.

You’d also need to consider what the right age to retire is for your spouse if you’re married and you both work. This is important for planning withdrawals from tax-advantaged and taxable accounts as well as Social Security planning.

Thinking about the bigger picture can help identify any gaps in your plan so you can find solutions for filling them. For instance, after evaluating your anticipated income sources you might decide that it makes sense to purchase an annuity for guaranteed income. Or if you’re concerned about healthcare being a drain on your finances you may purchase a long-term care insurance policy.

Pros and Cons of Early Retirement

Early retirement generally means retiring before your normal or full retirement age. For Social Security purposes, full or normal retirement age typically means age 66 to 67, depending on when you were born.

Early retirement for you could mean retiring at 62 but it could also mean retiring at 40 if you’re interested in the FIRE movement. Short for Financial Independence, Retire Early, this movement advocates saving and paying down debt aggressively so you can become financially independent at a significantly younger age. There’s also a variant of this called Coast Fire.

On the pro side, early retirement could leave you free to pursue a different type of lifestyle if you no longer have to work. For instance, you may choose to travel, start a business or devote more time to volunteer and charity work.

There are, however, some cons to consider. First, the earlier you want to be ready to retire the longer your money has to last. If you retire at age 40 and expect to live to age 90, for example, you’ll need to save enough money to last a half-century. Waiting until you’re 65 to retire, on the other hand, can ease some of the pressure to save.

You also have to consider how early retirement affects Social Security and when you should apply for Medicare. The earliest age you can take Social Security is 62. When you take benefits before your normal retirement age, the amount you receive is reduced.

Meanwhile, you wouldn’t be eligible for Medicare until age 65. So you’d have to consider where health insurance and healthcare costs fit in your early retirement budget and how you’ll pay for them.

Pros and Cons of Retiring at a Normal Age

Again, for Social Security purposes normal retirement age means between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born. If you’re considering this as the right age to retire, there are some advantages. 

For instance, the longer you’re working the more time you have to contribute to a 401(k) plan and receive a matching contribution if your employer offers one. You also have more time to earn income and contribute to a traditional IRA or Roth IRA to supplement your workplace plan.

Waiting until your normal retirement age means that your Social Security benefits aren’t reduced. You can stay covered by your employer’s health insurance as long as you’re working. When you turn 65 you can apply for Medicare.

The trade-off, of course, is that you might end up working longer or delaying your dream retirement lifestyle. And it’s always possible that you may be forced into retirement early anyway. You may experience an illness or disability that keeps you from working or your company could downsize and eliminate your position.

Pros and Cons of Delayed Retirement

Delaying retirement past the normal retirement age can be a matter of personal choice for some people. If you love your job, for example, you might not be content with retiring at 66 or 67. Instead, you may want to work for as long as you’re healthy and able to do your job.

For other people, delayed retirement is a necessity. If you got a late start on retirement savings, for example, or you experienced a financial setback that wiped out a chunk of your assets then working longer may be necessary to make up lost ground.

One advantage of delaying retirement is being able to continue contributing to a 401(k) or IRA. Another is the increase increase your Social Security benefit. When you wait to take benefits past the normal retirement age, that can boost your benefit amount. So on both fronts, delayed retirement could benefit you if you want to accumulate as much money as possible.

Again, this strategy only works if you’re able to stay healthy and continue working, which is a drawback. Delaying retirement can also mean delaying travel plans, making a move or spending more time with the people you care about most.

How Market Conditions Can Affect Your Retirement Age

Reaching your retirement savings goal doesn’t always mean it’s the right time to retire. Market performance during the first few years of retirement can have a lasting effect on how long your savings last. This is known as sequence-of-returns risk.

A market decline early in retirement can have a much greater impact than the same decline later on. While you’re still working, you can continue contributing to your accounts and give your investments time to recover. Once you begin taking withdrawals, a downturn may force you to sell investments at lower prices to generate retirement income. Those assets are no longer invested when the market eventually rebounds.

As a result, two people with the same portfolio and spending plan can experience very different outcomes if they retire in different market environments. One may begin retirement during a prolonged bull market, while the other retires just before a major downturn.

You can’t control market performance, but you can prepare for it. Keeping one to three years of living expenses in cash or liquid assets may reduce the need to sell during market decline. Some people also build flexibility into their retirement timeline. Working another year or two provides cushion if markets have fallen sharply before their planned retirement date. That additional time allows their investment portfolio to recover and reduces overall retirement withdrawals.

Bottom Line

Finding the best age to retire isn’t always easy, and sometimes the jargon can be confusing. It can help to discuss the options with a financial advisor. An advisor can review things like your savings goals, income, retirement assets, expected Social Security benefit and longevity expectations. They can evaluate them objectively and align them with your goals. As you prepare your retirement plan, consider including contingencies. Things like illness or disability might require you to make a decision earlier than you expected.

Tips for Retirement Planning

• Consider meeting with a financial advisor to discuss Social Security benefits planning and where that might fit into your retirement plans. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
• In addition to benefiting from a financial advisor’s advice, get quick insights that come from using a free retirement calculator.

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