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What Do Early Retirees Have in Common?

A new survey claims that early retirees are more likely to seek advice from financial professionals when making a major financial decision, and to get help from financial professionals for retirement planning.

More precisely, Allianz’ “LoveFamilyMoney” study of 4,500 Americans examined the perspectives of the 26% of the 3,449 currently employed people in the study who said they plan to retire before they turn 65. Survey participants were between 35 and 65 years old with household incomes of at least $50,000.

How They’re Different

Working with financial professionals wasn’t the only characteristic they had in common, of course. They were also more likely to:

• Be married (76% compared with 68% who never plan to retire) and are still in their first marriage (77% compared with 70% of those who never plan to retire)
• Compare themselves to their parent’s financial status to track how they are doing financially (21% compared with 14% of those who never plan to retire)
• Find it “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to talk with their spouse or significant other about family finances (90% compared with 77% of those who never plan to retire)
• Have done more to teach their children about money, including encouraging them to work with a financial professional (14% compared with 6% of those who never plan to retire)
• Be a “saver” and not a “spender” when it comes to money
• Share a similar financial approach with their partner
• Focus on saving for their long-term goals
• Depend on more sources of funding for their retirement

And, as it turns out, a larger percentage of those who expect to retire early also report that they have not experienced financial hardship as an adult – 46% compared with 31% of those who never plan to retire.

How They’re Not Different

On the other hand, they were no more likely to:

• Describe their family growing up as “wealthy/affluent” or “financially comfortable” than people who planned to stay in the workforce longer
• Have children

That said, it’s one thing to plan to retire early, and something else altogether to be able to execute that plan without financial hardship. While EBRI’s Retirement Confidence Survey has consistently found that a large percentage of retirees leave the workforce earlier than planned (50% in 2015), many who retired earlier than planned did so because of a hardship, such as a health problem or disability (60%), though some state that they retired early because they could afford to do so (31%).

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