So 7 out of 10 retire before 65. And 1/3 of those are for health reasons. So I would guess the majority retired early because of layoffs and unable to find new job. Thus an article about ageism without mentioning it? My family had 6 aunts and uncles laid off in Bay Area in 50s and never could find another job.
This is such a loss, both for the company and all previous generations. I've only gotten to work with a practicing IC in his 50s ONCE, and I couldn't get enough of his stories. He worked at early Sun and lived through the dot com crash. He was involved in the initial development of multiple DBMS that we all take for granted these days.
> American workers by and large believe they'll retire at 65, the nation's traditional retirement age
I'd have expected workers in the US to by and large believe they'll retire at 67, because that for anyone born in 1960 or later that is the age you get full Social Security benefits.
The last people to get full SS benefits at 65 were those born before 1943. Those born 1943-1954 got full benefits at 66. For those born between then and 1960 the full benefit age gradually increases from 66 to 67.
You can start collecting SS at 62, but your benefit is reduced for each month you start before your full benefit age. You can also delay starting benefits up until age 70, and for each month you delay your monthly benefit goes up.
Whether you should start collecting early, at full benefit age, or delay depends on how long you are going to live so you have to somewhat guess.
There's a certain age that is the breakeven point. If you die at that age you will have collected the same total amount regardless of when you started collecting benefits. For me that age is 79. They calculate that age based on life expectancy, so for young workers today when they get near retirement age the breakeven age will probably be higher that.
If you are going to die before your breakeven age you get the most by starting benefits early. If you are going to live past it you get more by delaying benefits. For example, let's call the amount I'd collect if I lived to exactly my breakeven age, 79, my "full amount".
Suppose I am going to die at 73. If I start collecting at 64 I'll have collected 0.6 of my full amount. If I start collecting at 67 I'll only have gotten 0.5 of my full amount. And if if waited until 70 I'd only get 0.33 of my full amount.
On the hand if I die at 85 starting at 64 gets me 1.4 times the full amount, starting at 67 gets me 1.5 times the full amount, and starting at 70 gets me 1.65 times the full amount.
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