Working longer isn’t a foolproof retirement plan — 46% of 2025 retirees left earlier than planned, survey finds

Delaying retirement can have a range of positive financial impacts: Such people don't have to live off their savings, since they get a regular paycheck. They have more time to save and for their assets to grow, hopefully. They can likely delay claiming Social Security benefits, guaranteeing a higher monthly payout for the rest of their lives.But retiring early can have the opposite effect, especially when it's unexpected.And people "consistently" retire earlier than planned, Copeland said. Roughly 40% to 50% of people who retired in any given year since the late 1990s said they retired earlier than anticipated, according to EBRI data. A Gallup poll similarly found a regular gap between retirement expectations and reality. In 2022, the average person said they expected to retire at age 66; that year, the average person retired at age 61, the most recent poll found.

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