Kevin Kroskey's Money & Mind

An important paper has recently released by the Social Security Administration called   Behavioral and Psychological Aspects of the Retirement Decision . It delves into some of the non-financial reasons why people choose to retire when they do. Following are some highlights from the paper. Many future retirees do not understand the interplay between claiming age and Social Security benefits.   Even when they understand the claiming rules, many people claim benefits when it is not economically advisable to do so, as m ore than half of retirees claim benefits at 62.  Retirees tend to   anchor   on ages that have some retirement significance.   Why do so many people claim to be "burnt out" at work when they turn 62? Why not 60 or 64 or 68? It's because 62 is the age of eligibility for Social Security benefits. But what if they were to anchor on age 70 instead? Might they push through the burnout, as they would if it occurred at 55 or 60 when retirement clearly was not fe