The average retirement age may be higher today than in the early 2000s and the two preceding decades, but research from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research shows that retirement ages were once even higher.
Dating back to 1962, the Retirement Research Center mapped the average retirement age to show that today’s upswing may be near-record, but a time of post-65 retirement age is not beyond memory for many people approaching retirement age today.
“The average U.S. age for men retiring from work has gradually increased to 64,” BC’s “Squared Away” blog writes. “Yet age 62 continues to be held out as the popular standard, perhaps because that’s Americans’ marker for Social Security eligibility.
“Is retirement at age 62 destined be a casualty of dovetailing medical, financial, economic and even political trends? Many baby boomers are already postponing retirement into their mid- or even late 60s.”
Read the blog post and see the original chart.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker