You’ve probably heard the classic retirement advice: if your savings fall short, just work a few more years. A longer career means more time to contribute to your 401(k), more employer matches, and a bigger Social Security check down the road.
The problem is that this plan assumes you get to choose when you stop working. For roughly half the people who retired last year, that choice was never theirs to make.
New data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute reveals just how fragile the “work longer” strategy has become. The findings should prompt every worker over 40 to rethink how they prepare for a career ending that comes earlier than expected.
EBRI survey shows 46% of retirees left the workforce earlier than planned
Close to half of Americans who retired in 2025 did so sooner than they had intended, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey, released on April 21. The survey polled 2,544 Americans aged 25 and older in January 2026, including more than 1,000 retirees.
Involuntary factors drove three out of every four early departures. Health problems, disabilities, caregiving for a loved one, and corporate shakeups such as downsizing, closures, or reorganizations accounted for 76% of unplanned retirements in 2025, EBRI found.
That leaves only a quarter of early retirees who left because they could afford to.
Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI, said the consequences extend well beyond the person who retires.
“People retiring earlier than planned can end up with a much worse retirement than expected and may need to rely on others, make significant lifestyle changes, and if they have a spouse, can change the spouse’s retirement plans,” Copeland wrote in an email to CNBC.
The gap between planned and actual retirement age has persisted for decades
This pattern is not new. Between 40% and 50% of retirees in any given year since the late 1990s have reported leaving work ahead of their own timetable, according to historical EBRI data.
The consistency of that range over more than two decades suggests that involuntary early retirement is a structural feature of the American labor market, not a blip tied to any single recession or pandemic.
Gallup polling underscores the disconnect between expectations and outcomes. In 2022, the most recent year with available data, working Americans estimated they would retire at age 66 on average. The actual average retirement age that year was 61, a five-year gap that can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost earnings and savings, Gallup reported.
Separate research from the Urban Institute paints an even starker picture of how older workers lose their footing. A 2018 study analyzing data from 1992 to 2016 found that 56% of full-time workers in their early 50s experienced an involuntary job separation before they were ready to retire.
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Financial planners say catch-up contributions are the first line of defense
Kamila Elliott, a certified financial planner, co-founder and CEO of Collective Wealth Partners in Atlanta, told CNBC that near-retiree households can take several practical steps to cushion against an unplanned exit. The first is to eliminate debt while a paycheck is still coming in, which frees up cash flow if retirement arrives early, Elliott noted.
Elliott also emphasized maximizing catch-up contributions as soon as eligibility begins. Workers aged 50 and older can contribute an additional $8,000 per year to a 401(k) and an extra $1,100 to an individual retirement account in 2026, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
“We help our clients take a look at their numbers to see if early retirement is a possibility. We also encourage them to be realistic about their lifestyle to make sure their numbers work.” said Nicolas “Nick” Abrams, CFP, President and CEO, Opulentia.
Those between ages 60 and 63 get an even larger window, with a catch-up limit of $11,250 for their 401(k) in 2026. Elliott’s guidance also included building savings in accounts that are accessible before the standard retirement age.
Workers who funnel every dollar into a traditional 401(k) can find themselves unable to access funds before age 59½ without paying a 10% early withdrawal penalty, in addition to income taxes.
A Social Security bridge strategy could offset years of lost income
For workers who find themselves out of a job in their early 60s, one of the most consequential decisions is when to start collecting Social Security.
Claiming at age 62, the earliest eligibility age, permanently reduces monthly benefits by up to 30% compared with waiting until full retirement age, which is 67 for most current workers, according to the Social Security Administration.
Waiting until age 70, by contrast, produces a monthly benefit that is 77% larger than the age-62 amount, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Financial planners increasingly recommend using 401(k) or IRA savings to cover expenses in the early retirement years so that Social Security can be delayed as long as possible, the report found.
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Because Social Security benefits are inflation-adjusted and guaranteed for life, locking in a higher monthly payment at 70 reduces dependence on investment portfolios later in retirement, the Bipartisan Policy Center found.
This bridge strategy carries extra weight for workers who are involuntarily pushed out of the labor market. A displaced 62-year-old who claims immediately may spend 25 or more years locked into a reduced benefit, and that gap compounds over time as cost-of-living adjustments are applied to the smaller base amount.
Why “work longer” remains the most unreliable retirement plan
The EBRI data makes one thing clear: banking on extra working years as a retirement safety net is a gamble, not a strategy. Workers who build their entire financial plan around a target retirement date of 67 or later face serious risk when a layoff, a health crisis, or a corporate restructuring arrives at 58 or 62 instead.
Social Security Administration (SSA) found that only about 10% of retirees wait until age 70 to claim Social Security, even though waiting would increase lifetime wealth for roughly 57% of them.
That gap between optimal behavior and actual behavior reflects both a lack of planning tools and the psychological discomfort of watching savings decline in the early years of retirement, the report noted.
Emerson Sprick, director of retirement and labor policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center and author of the bridge strategy report, said the best time to plan for this scenario is well before turning 62.
The key, Sprick told CNBC, is having access to a good financial advisor, along with employer-provided tools that help workers understand their retirement income options before the decision is forced on them.
Steps that financial experts recommend for workers over 50
The evidence points to a persistent gap between how long people expect to work and how long they actually do. Across decades of data, early and often involuntary exits have remained common, driven largely by health issues and workplace disruptions rather than personal choice.
That pattern challenges the assumption that extra working years can reliably close retirement shortfalls. Instead, it highlights how uncertain the timing of retirement can be and how outcomes are often shaped by forces beyond individual control, leaving many to adjust their plans later than anticipated and under less favorable conditions than they originally expected.
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