Retirement for some is unexpectedly early, survey finds

Many people expect to make up for skimpy nest eggs by working longer into their retirement years. Unfortunately, those plans often don’t hatch, a new survey has found. Nearly 60 percent of recently retired Americans ended up leaving the workforce sooner than planned, primarily because of poor health or because they were laid off or forced into early retirement by their employer, according to PNC Financial Services Group’s latest Perspectives on Retirement survey.

On average, workers who aren’t retired expect to stop working at age 67, according to the survey. People who consider themselves on track with their retirement savings on average expect to retire earlier, at 65.7 years. Those who acknowledge they aren’t saving enough expect to retire at 68.2.

The survey also found that women have more doubt than men about their ability to afford retirement. Just over half of women polled, 51 percent, had doubt compared with 48 percent of men.