Mandatory Retirement Ages: Pros, Cons, and Why Age Alone Falls Short for Planning
Retirement is not a number. It is not a bank account balance—and it certainly isn’t an arbitrary age. It’s more of an evolving lifestyle that is shaped by health, finances, purpose, and personal choice. That’s why mandatory retirement ages, which require people to stop working once they reach a specific age, remain a complicated and often imperfect policy tool.
Let’s take a look at the issues surrounding using age as a factor when making any retirement decision, and the pros and cons of mandatory retirement age as a policy.
Why Is Age So Heavily Associated With Retirement?
Age plays an outsized role in how we think about retirement because it’s simple, visible, and deeply embedded in policy. Many of the milestones that shape retirement planning—eligibility for Social Security, Medicare, and pensions—are explicitly age-based.
Over time, this has trained both institutions and individuals to treat age not just as a reference point, but as a proxy for readiness. It’s an understandable shortcut: age is easy to measure, easy to communicate, and broadly correlated with life stage.
But correlation is not the same as precision. As longevity has increased and careers have become less linear, age has remained a convenient signal—even as its usefulness as a decision-making tool has weakened.
Some people are financially and personally ready to retire at 50. Others choose to keep working well into their 70s. The right answer depends far more on readiness than on a birthday.
What Is a Mandatory Retirement Age?
A mandatory retirement age is a rule that requires workers to retire once they reach a specified age—often 60, 65, or 70—regardless of job performance, health, or personal preference.
Mandatory retirement ages were in the news this week. as Rahm Emmanuel, a newly announced candidate for the 2028 presidential election, proposed a mandatory retirement age of 75 for an age limit of 75 for federal government employees.
A Brief History of Mandatory Retirement Ages
Mandatory retirement policies became common in the early-to-mid 20th century, when:
- Life expectancy was shorter
- Pension systems were expanding
- Careers were more linear and physically demanding
At the time, age-based retirement helped organizations manage workforce turnover and made benefit systems easier to administer.
Are Mandatory Retirement Ages Legal Today?
In many countries, broad mandatory retirement ages have been restricted or eliminated, largely due to concerns about age discrimination. For example, in the United States, mandatory retirement is generally prohibited, with limited exceptions for certain safety-sensitive roles.
Other countries allow more flexibility. In places like Japan, formal retirement ages may exist, but continued employment beyond those ages is often encouraged or facilitated.
The Case For Mandatory Retirement Ages
1. Predictability and Workforce Planning
A fixed retirement age provides clarity for employers, enabling smoother succession planning and clearer advancement opportunities.
2. Perceived Fairness
Uniform age rules can feel less subjective than late-career performance reviews, reducing the risk of bias or legal disputes.
3. Safety in High-Risk Roles
In safety-sensitive professions, age limits may reduce risk without requiring frequent medical or cognitive testing.
The Case Against Mandatory Retirement Ages
1. Age Is a Weak Indicator of Readiness
People age differently. Health, cognition, and performance vary widely at any given age, making chronological age an imprecise decision tool.
2. Financial Security Doesn’t Follow a Schedule
Readiness for retirement depends on factors like:
- Savings and investment outcomes
- Health care costs
- Longevity and family responsibilities
A fixed retirement age can force people to retire before their finances—or lives—are ready.
3. Work Is Often a Strategic or Lifestyle Choice
For many, continued work isn’t just about income. It can:
- Reduce portfolio drawdown
- Delay Social Security claiming
- Add flexibility during market volatility
- Be enjoyable
Mandatory retirement removes this option, even when working longer improves outcomes.
4. Experience Doesn’t Expire
Older workers often provide institutional knowledge, mentorship, and judgment that are hard to replace. Age-based exits can create abrupt talent gaps.
What This Means for Your Retirement Plan
For individuals planning their future, the lesson is practical:
- Age is a reference point, not a rule
- Financial readiness varies widely
- Flexibility increases resilience
Mandatory or conventional retirement ages may simplify systems, but personal plans work best when decisions are based on data, health, and goals, not birthdays.
Why You Should Break from Conventional Thinking on Retirement Age
Many Boldin users are surprised to discover—once they run the numbers—that they can retire earlier than they ever imagined. Not because they guessed right on timing, but because they stopped anchoring on age and started planning around real financial readiness.
Conventional thinking says retirement happens in your sixties. Planning says it happens when your numbers work and other readiness factors are in place. Fixating on an age can quietly delay choices that matter—time with children and grandchildren, travel and adventure, or simply the freedom to use your healthiest years differently.
Retiring by age is simple, but it’s often imprecise. Retiring by a plan is more personal, more flexible, and far more likely to align with the life you want to live.
Retirement isn’t a birthday. It’s a decision informed by your numbers. Build and maintain your plan using the Boldin Retirement Planner.
The post Mandatory Retirement Ages: Pros, Cons, and Why Age Alone Falls Short for Planning appeared first on Boldin.
