Many Americans want to retire before 65. Will they be able to?
While 49% of Gen Z thinks they will be able to retire early, only 30% of millennials and 31% of Gen X feel the same.
People who have been able to retire before they reached the age of 55 are more likely to take risks in the stock market and have a regular budget, according to a YouGov study about U.S. retirement attitudes and readiness.
More often, however, Americans must wait until they turn 65 years old to retire, although the majority said they hope to exit the workforce before then. Less than half believe they will be able to do so, and a significant percentage of respondents are unsure when they would like to retire and when they will be able to.
Gen Z Americans are the most likely to want to retire before age 65 as well as the most likely to believe they will be able to, with 49% saying they think they will be able to achieve this goal. Only 30% of millennials and 31% of Gen X believe they will be able to retire before age 65. Men are more likely to want to retire before 65 and believe they will be able to do so than women.
Of those looking to retire in the next year, 45% are at least 65 years old, and 55% are male.
Forty percent of Americans lack confidence in their financial security heading into retirement, particularly Gen X, millennials and women. In addition, Americans with post-grad degrees expressed more confidence in their ability to save for retirement than high school graduates.
The 30% who were confident about their finances were more likely to work with financial advisors and own savings and invest products. Early retirees are most likely to invest in ETFs, while late retirees are most likely to invest in an individual retirement account, life insurance, and CDs.
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Sixty-two percent of Americans are counting on Social Security to fund their retirement, while 36% say they will rely on personal savings, 28% plan to work part time and another 28% plan to leverage investments. Seventeen percent said they don’t know what they will rely on for retirement income.
Thirty-five percent of respondents say they have saved nothing for retirement, and 21% say they don’t know how much they have saved. About one-quarter of respondents indicated they are saving up to 10% of their annual income for retirement.