Why American retirees are returning to work
A new study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute shows the rate of return to work among retirees in the United States.
More than half of retirees quit their jobs sooner than planned, according to a new report. And that decision was often beyond their control.
A retirement risk study released in May by the Institute of Actuaries found that 59% of retirees left their jobs earlier than expected. Only 6% of respondents retired later than expected.
The report joins a growing body of research suggesting that most Americans are retiring earlier than planned.
The average American worker retires at age 62, according to two reputable annual surveys of working and retired Americans. One by the Employee Benefits Research Institute and the other by the Transamerica Retirement Research Center.
Most workers don’t intend to retire that early. According to EBRI research, the average worker expects to retire at age 65. According to Transamerica, 39% of workers plan to retire after age 70, if at all.
A report by the Society of Actuaries found that the most common reason for early retirement was health problems.
The reason for leaving depends partly on income.
The report also provided a detailed analysis of the retirement decisions of high- and low-income Americans. The difference is obvious.
For retirees with incomes less than $35,000, the most common reason for early retirement was “change in health status.” Perhaps there is a deterioration in the health of the worker or someone in his family. Unemployment was in second place. Both factors were outside of the workers’ control.
For retirees with incomes above $75,000, job dissatisfaction was the primary reason for early retirement. The second reason is that I reached my retirement savings goal sooner than expected. Both of these factors were within the control of the workers.
For wealthy workers who retired early, “many of the reasons were less negative,” said Timothy Geddes, managing director at Deloitte Consulting and co-author of the report.
“Some high-income retirees have reported quitting their jobs because they achieved their financial goals,” he said. “And that’s not a negative thing at all.”
In contrast, low-income retirees were less likely to have choices about when and how they retired.
“Certainly they’re not people who left because they wanted to,” Geddes said of workers who left for health reasons. “They’re doing it because they have to.”
The Society of Actuaries’ report is based on interviews with 1,007 pre-retirees and 1,005 retirees in 2024.
Why do employees leave their companies ahead of schedule?
Retirees who left their jobs earlier than planned cited several factors in the survey. The top five are:
- Change in health status, 31%
- Dissatisfied with work, 25%
- Unemployment, 20%
- Change in family situation, 19%
- Reached your retirement savings goal by 16% faster than expected
The findings highlight a common misconception about retirement: that we can choose when and how we leave the workforce.
The finding that higher-income Americans are more likely to have a say in their retirement, even if they retire early, is reflected in both the Society of Actuaries’ report and the EBRI study.
“High-income earners are more likely to do so because it’s their choice, while lower-income earners are more likely to do so because of their health or a change in employment,” said Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI. “That’s out of their control.”
In the 2026 EBRI/Greenwald Retirement Confidence Survey, 46% of retirees said they retired earlier than planned. Only 6% of respondents retired later than expected.
Surprisingly, most retirees seem to be doing well.
The good news is that most retirees appear to be financially comfortable, as reflected in both EBRI and the Society of Actuaries’ surveys.
In a survey by the Society of Certified Public Accountants, only 19% of retirees said they were worse off financially than they expected during their working years.
In the EBRI survey, only 24% of retirees described their standard of living as fair or poor.
These data suggest that many retirees are making do with Social Security income and small savings.
According to the most recent 2022 Federal Consumer Finance Survey, the typical household with a retirement account between the ages of 65 and 74 has about $200,000 in savings. Only about half of households have no retirement accounts at all.
In contrast, financial planners often recommend that employees save $1 million or more toward retirement.
“Learning to make adjustments and live with what you have is very important,” Copeland said.
