Why More People Are Retiring Early Today Than Ever Before

More Americans than ever before are retiring early due to seven key factors reshaping our approach to work and retirement planning.

• COVID-19 accelerated early retirements with 2.6 million more people retiring during the pandemic than expected
• Average retirement age dropped from 64 in 2019 to 62 in 2022, one of the sharpest declines in decades
• The FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) has grown by 300% in searches between 2018-2023
• Strong market performance created record numbers of 401(k) millionaires
• Remote work flexibility enables 40% of workers to retire 2-5 years earlier than previously planned
• 68% of Americans have reprioritized work-life balance with 47% willing to accept lower income for more freedom
• Health concerns prompted 25% of early retirees to leave the workforce sooner than expected

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Ari Taublieb, CFP ®, MBA is the Chief Growth Officer of Root Financial Partners and a Fiduciary Financial Planner specializing in helping clients retire early with confidence.

“Early Retirement – Financial Freedom” is a podcast produced by Root Financial Partners, an SEC-registered investment adviser. The content provided is for informational and educational purposes only. It should not be interpreted as investment, legal, or tax advice. I may reference planning situations based on real client experiences, but they’ve been simplified for clarity. Always consult your own financial advisor before making decisions.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are seven reasons more people are retiring
early today than ever before.
I'm going to walk through allof them right now and give you
my insight as a financialadvisor and host of the Early
Retirement Podcast.
So let's have some fun.
Number one is the COVID-19impact.
So the pandemic acceleratedearly retirements significantly

(00:22):
2.6 million more people,according to Federal Reserve
data, retired during the first18 months of the pandemic than
would have been expected frompre-pandemic trends.
I am seeing this as a financialadvisor.
So many more people areprioritizing their health going.
Hey, I don't know if sitting athome all day is best for me.
I now and I have a famous storythat I've told before, which

(00:44):
many of you know a woman whoreached out and said she was
really upset that she had $3million.
And I said look, I don't wantto be mean here, but I just
don't hear that every day andthat kind of sounds bad because
there's a lot of people whowould love to have 3 million.
So why are you upset?
And she was upset because shedidn't need 3 million.
She thought she just neededmore and more.
And she kept saying I'm goingto work one more year, one more

(01:04):
bonus, one more project.
And that happened for a fewyears and she had really bad
sciatica, which I'm not toofamiliar with, but she was
telling me it is excruciatinglyannoying not painful, but
excruciatingly annoying, which Ithink also is painful because
she told me about that later.
But she wants to hike inretirement is the point of the
story.
And now she's like I can do it,but it's just, it's going to be

(01:31):
a lot more difficult and if Iwould have retired earlier, when
I was in better health, I wouldhave, I think, been a totally
fine financial spot.
So she was just beating herselfup because she's like I think I
have too much, which I don'thear that every day, but the
point of the story is I don'tneed any of you.
But the point of the story is Idon't need any of you and my
hope is that you're not sittingat work.
I'm sitting recording thisright now but that you're not
sitting at work, just going.
Okay, it's me right now and Iknow that my spouse wants to

(01:55):
travel in retirement, but I'mthe one that needs to health,
just so that one day, as afamily, we can retire and do
everything we want to do andmore.
And if that means I need towork 10 more years and not focus
on my health, then that's fine.
Don't do that.
Yes, make sure financiallyyou're in a good spot before you
retire.
But can you practice yourhealth?

(02:17):
And the way I explain it to myclients is can you train for
your early retirement?
It's a fun way of thinkingabout it.
Yeah, I'm going to train forwhen I hike and travel and it
might not seem like a big deal,but, like you might be in an RV
for a long time if you're goingaround the country, well, it
makes sense to actually go.
Hey, I'm going to like train,and now it sounds weird, but I
have clients that are doingexercises, kind of like this,
and you can see me if you're onYouTube or if you're listening

(02:39):
on the app.
You didn't see me do a weirdlittle movement here, but it's
like cat and cow at your desk.
I have clients that are going.
Hey, I'm training for my earlyretirement and it's a cool way
of thinking about it.
So that's number one.
Number two retirement agedecline.
So the average retirement age,according to Gallup surveys in
the U S, drop from 64 in 2019 to62 in 2022, that is one of the

(03:02):
sharpest declines in decades.
So when you hear earlyretirement you might be thinking
what is that exact age?
Well, it's not a perfect age.
I like to say it's before 65.
That's an early retirementbecause 65 is the traditional
retirement age and that'sMedicare turns on.
And when most people think ofretirement they think retire at
65 and not fun to talk about,but pass away at 90, 95.

(03:25):
That's kind of my 30 yearretirement, of which only so
many of those years are reallywith your optimal health.
So I like seeing that theaverage retirement age dropped
from 64 to 62.
So my only ask is it's fun tolearn from each other.
If you're listening right now,send me a note.
How old are you and when areyou planning on retiring?
If you're watching on YouTube,drop a comment below right now.

(03:45):
Please let me know how old areyou, what are your assets.
You don't have to go througheverything, but to be able to
communicate with others it makesit really fun.
So don't say your socialsecurity number, don't go crazy.
But if you were to say, hey,I'm 61.
I have 1.2 million, I want tospend 6,000 a month Anyone else

(04:08):
in a similar boat you might havea lot of people that comment
below that go yeah, that's me,actually, and you're not alone.
And so here's what we'rethinking about and we're doing
this, and I want this to be ascollaborative and, hopefully, as
what's the phrase that I liketo talk about.
I was trying, I was justthinking about it, I was telling
someone about it recently,action bias of hey, I want you
to listen to this and I hopeit's entertaining, but I also
hope that you go wow, I'm goingto start doing that.

(04:29):
Wow, I was always going toretire at 64.
A lot of people retire at 62.
Maybe I could do that.
Let me look into that.
What do I have to do to be ableto retire at 62?
So a little tough love there ofhey, please drop a comment, but
also please ask yourself hey,when can you be in a spot to
make it happen?
Number three that I want to gothrough here is FIRE movement
growth.
So FIRE stands for financialindependence.
Retire early, and I don'treally like the phrase because

(04:51):
it is almost making you thinklike, okay, should I like work
like crazy, like should I havetwo jobs just so I can retire
early one day?
There's a lot of people thatare in their thirties that work
like crazy to hopefully retireat 50.
But then they're like I have noidea what I want to do with my
life and I just sacrifice myhealth like crazy.
So now I can't even fully enjoyit.

(05:11):
So don't do that.
I prefer recreationalemployment.
Are you working because youwant to or because you have to?
And when can you get to aposition where it's because you
want to?
So this FIRE movement, someGoogle trends here, a stat so
searches for FIRE retirementincreased by over 300% between
2018 and 2023.
So just the fact that people arethinking about hey, do I have

(05:31):
enough money to retire early?
Like, are there things that Idon't know about?
Are there strategies to andthis is what I focus a lot of my
time on, as many of you knowtax, estate, withdrawal,
healthcare If we optimize someof these things, it can actually
be way more impactful than youworking longer.
So let me ask you this wouldyou rather have an awesome tax

(05:52):
strategy that is able to bringin $80,000 completely tax-free?
Would you rather work a jobthat brings in $150,000, that,
after tax, you're taking home$110,000 after 401k and taxes
and insurance premiums, and I'llhave people that go wow, I
didn't even know that.
If we can get reallyintentional and savvy on the
financial side.

(06:12):
We can then make sure youprioritize health and family and
purpose and fulfillment.
Now you can really have aholistic retirement that's
allowing you to sleep at night.
I paused there because I'mthinking about how I want to
phrase it, because I want to bevery careful with you guys.
I want to make sure that youcan sleep at night without
thinking did I miss something?
Was there something I shouldhave considered before retiring

(06:35):
early?
Sorry, makayla, that was a bigburp, so I'm going to record
that again.
I want you to think at nightwhen you put your head on your
pillow was there something thatI overlooked?
And you will know the feelingand you know when you like go

(06:57):
travel somewhere.
And you will know the feeling.
You know when you travelsomewhere and you've got that
feeling.
Did I leave my keys or mywallet or my phone?
It's normally right to thatfeeling.
And if you know that you'vegone through the exercises to go
wait.
So if markets go down and taxbrackets go up and inflation
goes up and I live till I'm 100and it turns out I want to spend

(07:19):
way more, I'm still in a greatspot to retire early.
Yeah, now I feel confident, Ican do this.
So, all of this to say the FIREmovement although I don't fully
agree with what it stands for,it, is helping way more people
consider an early retirement andlook into these types of
strategies.
Number four is just something wecannot ignore strong market

(07:39):
performance.
Market's growing helps peopleretire early.
The strong bull market, despitevolatility, which will always
be there from 2009 to 2021,helped many Americans reach
their retirement savings goal,and Fidelity reported that the
number of 401k millionaires hitrecord highs in 2021 and is only
continuing.
So more millionaires than everbefore.

(08:01):
Obviously simple there, and I'mseeing that.
I'm seeing a lot of people whoreach out, who go yep, I've got
2 million bucks and I had 1.1,six seven years ago and markets
have just been doing really welland I've stayed the course and
I'm really confident.
So strong performance.
This is a big one and I wasexcited for this one, to tell
you guys.
So remote work effect, so readyfor this.

(08:22):
Nearly 40% of workers whogained remote work flexibility
during the pandemic reportedbeing able to retire two to five
years earlier than previouslyplanned, according to a 2023
survey by the Employee BenefitResearch Institute.
That is big.
From working remote, people areable to prioritize health and

(08:43):
they're able to still have theircompensation in a way that
allows them to fund their 401kand do what they want to do, but
it's giving them more time togo.
Huh, is this to me the best useof my time?
Sitting at home doing this jobthat I maybe don't love?
Others of you are like, hey,this doesn't apply to me, I love
my job.
Okay, well then, this point'snot exactly for you.

(09:04):
But for those of you who dowork from home, who are ready to
go, I want to do somethingdifferent.
Look, this ability to remotelywork is allowing people to still
go.
You know what?
What if I were to travel and domy work?
What if I were to at leastconsider scaling back, working
part time but staying remote?
It's giving opportunities andthat's all retirement, early

(09:26):
retirement is about.
It's about trade-offs whattrade-offs make most sense to
you.
You might not be miserable.
You might go.
I don't know what I would do ifI didn't have my job.
So, actually having my job isawesome.
I wish I could do it two days aweek or three days a week to
almost practice retirement.
See what I would really like.
Others of you go.
Well, my job doesn't have thatoption, but I would love to know
how much longer I needed towork and if I knew that was only

(09:48):
three more years of remote work.
That's different than having togo into the office for the next
three years.
Maybe I will retire earlier.
So remote work was a big effect.
That's number five.
Number six this is interestingshifting values.
So this post-pandemic surveyshowed 68% of Americans have
reprioritized work-life balance,with 47% ready for this saying

(10:11):
they're willing to acceptreduced income for more personal
time and freedom.
Now, before I look up some ofthese stats online, I will guess
myself because it's fun.
It's like when you go.
I don't know if any of you dothis, tell me if you do in the
comments, but I will go look athomes and my fiance and I will
try to guess the price.
It's just fun.
We like looking at big, fancyhomes.
We don't want one.
They're too big, too muchmaintenance, but too much
maintenance, but it's cool tothink about.

(10:32):
So I was guessing there'd bemaybe 15%, maybe 20% increase.
47% of people are like I'mhappy to have reduced income if
I could have more time andfreedom.
Time is the only non-renewablecurrency.
That's what people really want.
So that was number six.
And then number seven is healthconcerns.
So the pandemic prompted about25% of early retirees to cite

(10:54):
that health concerns andworkplace safety were their
primary factors in theirdecision to leave the workforce
earlier than planned.
So what I talk about isretiring on your terms, not
getting laid off and having thatbe why you retire.
Sometimes that's the case andsometimes it's the wake up call.
I personally left my firstcareer when COVID happened same

(11:17):
career, financial planning, taxstrategy, things like that but
different employer.
I left that employer when I wasoffered a package to leave and
then it was the greatestdecision I ever made and aside
from, of course, proposing to myfiance in case she's watching
this right now, but you guys getmy point.
So I left and I was over themoon.
My life has been so much better, so much more purpose, so much

(11:40):
more meaning.
I love what I get to do everyday.
I get to communicate with allof you guys.
I mean, I have the best job inthe world, but that was
something that got prompted bysomeone who reached out to me,
someone at this company who saidhey, we're now offering an
agreement that, if you wouldlike to leave the company, you
can.
Here's what this entails blah,blah, blah.
So it was someone nudging me.

(12:00):
I didn't just go.
You know what.
I've had it, I'm going to do it.
Here's something else.
I needed that nudge and so fora lot of people, this healthcare
, this pandemic, that was theirnudge.
So what I wish I would havedone if I could go back, because
I wish I would have left myprevious employer earlier,
because now I know how great mylife is now.

(12:21):
Now, could I have known that?
No, but that's what I tellmyself now.
So my point here is don't waitfor something to be the nudge,
whether it be another pandemicor whether it be, you know, a
company waiting to offer you ahuge severance package which
mine was not huge, but justseverance in general.
Maybe it's this right now,maybe it's you literally.
Hearing this is making youthink, hey, maybe I'm in a good

(12:42):
spot.
And I've always kind ofwondered I'm on the line?
How do I know I'm over the line?
So this is something that Itake very seriously.
So I want to at least considerand ask you to consider hey,
maybe this could be your nudge.
So those are the seveninteresting statistics that are
causing more people to retireearly today.
If you want help with your earlyretirement, this is what we
love to do, so I encourage youto reach out to work with us at

(13:04):
Root.
You can go to our website,rootfinancialpartnerscom.
You can use the description inthe link below of this episode
and you can go there and you cansee the steps to start working
with us.
And then, of course, anotheroption is the Early Retirement
Academy.
That is just.
If you want access to softwareand some tools that help our
clients start to plan theirretirement, that's great.

(13:26):
If you're, I'd say, anywherefrom three years out from
retirement, but you want tostart planning for it getting
really intentional, so you mightbe 20 or you might be 40.
And then most people startworking with us anywhere from
one to five years out when wewant to start crafting their
actual income plan, so it'sready to go for their retirement
.
So that's it.

(13:46):
I love getting to record these.
Thank you guys for tuning in,as always and allowing me to
record these.
Please drop a comment belowlike share, subscribe.
This helps more people find theshow and I appreciate it.
See you guys.
Thank you all, as always, forlistening to the Early
Retirement Podcast.
I love getting to host theseshows and make different content
for you guys every single week.
I've not missed a single weekin years and that is because I

(14:09):
love getting to do this.
Now, please be smart about this.
Before you actually execute anystrategy that you see me talk
about or hear me talk about,should I say Please talk to your
financial advisor, your taxpreparer, your estate attorney.
Please be smart about this.
None of this should beconstrued as financial advice.
This is for fun, educational,informational purposes only.

(14:31):
Once again, just quickdisclaimer here.
Guys, please be smart aboutthis.
Appreciate you listening, asalways, and you can, of course,
submit a question on my website,earlyretirementpodcastcom, if
you, of course, want me toaddress a specific case study or
topic.
I will not promise I can get toit, but I respond to every
single person and if I find itwill be helpful for a lot of

(14:52):
people, I will absolutely makean episode on it, at the very
least give you some insight.
That's it.
Thanks, guys.