Countless folks hope to retire early so they can enjoy the flexible lifestyle that comes with not having a full-time job. Now when we talk about retiring early, that concept can run the gamut from calling it quits in one's 40s or 50s to leaving the workforce in one's early to mid-60s. But for the purpose of our discussion, we'll define retiring early as halting one's career before reaching full retirement age for Social Security purposes — in other words, retiring before 66.
So where do Americans stand on early retirement? If we look at recent data from Paychex, it's pretty clear that the bulk of workers would like to retire at or before age 65. Specifically:
7% of men and 16.9% of women want to retire between 50 and 55.
4% of men and 25.7% of women want to retire between 56 and 60.
3% of men and 42.6% of women want to retire between 61 and 65.
