Age 65 isn't the retirement milestone it once was—at least not for a good chunk of Americans, who are postponing their departure from the workplace till they're older.
That's according to Gallup's annual Economy and Personal Finance survey, which found that 37 percent of workers expect to retire after age 65. That percentage, said Gallup, is consistent with recent years, but it's up from 31 percent in 2009 and way up from 1995, when just 14 percent said they planned to prolong their careers.
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There are still a number of optimistic workers who plan to retire before they turn 65—32 percent said so. But that's not a patch on the 49 percent who planned to do so back in 1995.
Among those who have already retired, twice as many (67 percent) said they did so before age 65. Still, the percentage of retirees who retired before age 65 has been even higher in past years. In the early 1990s, three in four retired Americans reported retiring before age 65.
The average age retired Americans report actually retiring has always been lower than non-retirees' expected age of retirement, and is 60 in this year's survey, Gallup said, matching the average generally found since 2004. Prior to that, the average reported age of retirement was always below age 60.
That could have something to do with unforeseen circumstances, such as poor health or job losses. Research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has found that those were the two leading reasons for retirement among people who had planned to work longer than they actually did.
That doesn't stop people from planning to stay on the job longer—often for money reasons. A Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index survey found that only 28 percent of retired investors are "very confident" that they have enough money to retire. In addition, the 36 percent of non-retirees planning to rely heavily on Social Security once they do retire is nearly 10 points higher, Gallup said, than those who said that 10 years ago.
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