Is 63 the ideal age of retirement Americans think it is? Probably not — here’s why

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Age 63 has emerged as something of a retirement sweet spot for Americans — at least in theory.

According to the 2024 MassMutual Retirement Happiness Study, retirees and pre-retirees identified 63 as the ideal age to leave the workforce (1). It's easy to understand the appeal: You're still relatively young, you've had decades to build your savings and you're already eligible to claim Social Security.

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But 63 also falls awkwardly between several important retirement milestones — and leaving work at that age could mean accepting a permanently smaller Social Security check, paying for health coverage before Medicare kicks in and asking your savings to support you for potentially three decades.

That makes the age Americans want to retire very different from the age that may put them in the strongest financial position.