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Yes, we asked 50 retired engineers in an attempt to discover what age engineers retire at the most, and we also asked 20 unretired engineers to uncover what age engineers prefer to retire at. The results were gathered through an online survey that uncovered some shocking results we will share here.
In a survey, we asked 50 retired engineers “what age they retired at”; the average retirement age was 63. The range of retirement was anything between the age of 38 to 73. The highest majority of engineers retire in their 60s at the age of 66, followed by retiring in their 50s at the age of 57s. This shows that most engineers are most likely to retire from their engineering job at an old age than at a young age.
See the results below:
We Asked 50 Engineers: When Did They Retire?
| Age of Retirement | Number | Percentage % | Average Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retired In Their 30s | 1 | 2% | 38 |
| Retired In Their 40s | 3 | 6% | 49 |
| Retired In Their 50s | 9 | 18% | 57 |
| Retired In Their 60s | 32 | 64% | 66 |
| Retired In Their 70s | 5 | 10% | 71 |
Engineers’ Reason For Retirement?
In general, the major reason for retirement for most engineers was health reasons (42%), followed by age reasons (40%), then family (12%), layoffs (4%) and finally, other reasons (2%) such as travelling the world, opening a business .. etc.
We tried to include all types of engineering in this study. However, we found no correlation between retirement age and the field of engineering. This means that retirement for most people mainly depends on their financial position, health reasons and old age. Here are the types of engineers who participated in this study:
What Age Did Those Engineers Wish To Retire At?
In an attempt to find the preferred age of retirement for engineers, we asked 50 retired engineers the age they wished to retire at. The average age engineers wanted to retire at was 45. This is 18 years less than the average retirement age for most engineers, which is 63.
What Age Did Those Engineers Wish To Retire At?
| Age of Retirement | Number | Percentage % | Average Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retired In 30s | 16 | 32% | 38 |
| Retired In 40s | 20 | 40% | 45 |
| Retired In 50s | 12 | 24% | 52 |
| Retired In 60s | 2 | 4% | 60 |
| Retired In 70s | 0 | 0% | – |
We Asked 20 Unretired Engineers: What Age Do They Wish To Retire At?
To make things more interesting, we asked 20 unretired engineers, mostly in their 20s, about the age they wish to retire from their full-time job as engineers. The average age engineers wanted to retire at was 44, which is 19 years less than the actual retirement age for engineers, which is 63.
We Asked 20 Unretired Engineers: What Age Do They Wish To Retire At?
| Age of Retirement | Number | Percentage % | Average Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retired In 30s | 5 | 25% | 37 |
| Retired In 40s | 9 | 45% | 43 |
| Retired In 50s | 6 | 30% | 51 |
| Retired In 60s | 0 | 0% | – |
| Retired In 70s | 0 | 0% | – |
This shows that unretired engineers have very high expectations of retiring early. However, we have found no link between the reasons for early retirement and the type of engineering fields those engineers do.
The reasons for early retirement we gathered from those engineers were very different; we have discussed those reasons in detail here: 6 Reasons Why Engineers Plan For Early Retirement.
What Is The Best Age For Engineers To Retire?
Having asked both retired and unretired engineers about their preferred retirement age, we can conclude that the best age for retirement for engineers is around the age of 45.
Although most young engineers do not really think of the age they want to retire at; it is still a very good question to ask at a young age because most engineers retire at an old age because they have not got their finances straight that will enable them to retire. If engineers were financially free in their 40s, most would retire early based on the results above.
Financial burdens such as a mortgage to pay, a car loan, and house and family expenses all get in the way of happy early retirement because of the insufficient retirement account most engineers have. Therefore, most engineers work till their 60s for their retirement account to compound more, making it enough for them to retire.
Yet there are multiple ways to retire early, specifically for engineers. If you are thinking of ways to retire early, read: Investing For Engineers: Guide To Build Wealth & Retire.
More Surveys About Engineers
Here at the Youn Hero Engineer, we discuss interesting topics that engineers want to know; you can check similar topics below:
