Almost Half of New Retirees Got Pushed Out Early — 7 Ways to Be Ready

Here’s something the financial industry doesn’t talk about enough: you probably won’t get to pick the day you retire.

According to the 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, nearly half of people who retired in 2025 stopped working earlier than they’d planned. That isn’t a one-time blip. For nearly three decades, somewhere between 40% and 50% of new retirees in any given year have said the same thing.

And here’s the kicker: 76% of those early retirements weren’t voluntary. The big reasons are exactly what you’d expect — your health gives out, your employer downsizes you out the door, or a family member needs full-time care.

The gap between what people plan for and what actually happens is brutal. A 2018 Urban Institute paper found that 56% of full-time workers in their early 50s get pushed out of their jobs before they’re ready to call it quits.

So if your retirement plan boils down to “I’ll just work until 67 and then figure it out,” you’re playing roulette with your last paycheck.

Here are seven specific moves to make right now, while you still have leverage.

1. Build a bridge fund outside your retirement accounts

If you’re forced to retire in your late 50s or early 60s, the worst thing you can do is start tapping Social Security or your 401(k) immediately. The first locks in a permanently smaller monthly check. The second triggers a 10% penalty before age 59½, plus income tax — though if you’re forced out at 55 or later, the IRS Rule of 55 lets you tap your current employer’s 401(k) penalty-free.

The fix: a bridge fund. That’s cash and savings you can spend in the gap years between forced retirement and the age when claiming benefits actually makes sense.

A reasonable target is two to four years of basic living expenses, held outside your IRA or 401(k). Roth IRA contributions (not earnings) also work — you can withdraw what you’ve put in anytime, tax- and penalty-free, though the Roth five-year rule can trip you up on earnings.

2. Max out the catch-up contributions — especially the ‘super’ one

If you’re 50 or older in 2026, the IRS lets you stuff an extra $8,000 into your 401(k) on top of the normal $24,500 limit, plus an extra $1,100 into your IRA.

But here’s the part most people miss. If you turn 60, 61, 62, or 63 this year, your 401(k) “super catch-up” jumps to $11,250 — and it’s only available for those four years. Once you hit 64, it drops back to the regular catch-up.

If your plan offers it (not all do — ask HR), this window is the single biggest tax-advantaged savings opportunity left in the U.S. retirement code. Don’t let it close without using it.

3. Lock in long-term care insurance in your 50s

Long-term care is the single biggest threat to a forced early retirement. If you’re suddenly out of work because you or your spouse needs full-time care, your savings get vaporized fast.

The window to buy traditional long-term care insurance closes faster than people realize. Premiums get steeply higher starting in your 60s, and you can be denied entirely if you’ve developed certain conditions.

Mid-50s to early 60s is the sweet spot. We covered this in detail in “Here’s Who Actually Needs Long-Term Care Insurance — and When to Buy It.”

If you want to see what this type of insurance might cost, Money.com has put together a list of the Best Long-Term Care Insurance Companies.

4. Solve the health insurance gap before you need to

Medicare doesn’t kick in until 65. If you’re forced to retire at 60, you’ve got five years of full-freight health insurance staring you in the face — and ACA marketplace plans for that age range can run $800 to $1,200 a month without subsidies.

Three things to do now: Max out a health savings account (HSA) if you’re eligible, since it’s the single best account in the tax code for this exact problem; understand how ACA subsidies work based on income; and find out whether your spouse’s employer plan can carry you.

For more, see “9 Ways to Cover Health Care Costs for an Early Retirement.”

5. Delay Social Security as long as you possibly can

If you start Social Security at 62 — the earliest possible age — you’ll lock in a permanent reduction of up to 30% versus your full retirement age benefit. Wait until 70, and the check is more than 75% larger than what you’d get at 62.

That difference can run into six figures over a typical retirement. See the math in “How Claiming Social Security Early Could Cost You $100,000 in Benefits.”

If a forced retirement makes waiting hard, that’s exactly what your bridge fund (see No. 1) is for. Spend the cash, delay the claim, win the long game.

6. Diversify your buckets — Roth, taxable, and pretax

Most workers have one bucket: a pretax 401(k). That’s a problem if you retire early, because every dollar you pull comes out as ordinary income. Plus, if you’re under 55 when you leave your job, you’ll face a 10% penalty on top of the taxes — though, as noted above, the Rule of 55 can eliminate that penalty if you’re pushed out at 55 or later.

A better setup is three buckets working together. Your pretax 401(k) or traditional IRA handles long-term growth. A Roth IRA gives you tax-free withdrawals later — plus penalty-free access to your contributions earlier. And a regular taxable brokerage account offers total flexibility, taxed only on the gains.

When the pink slip arrives, you want options. Three buckets give you options. One doesn’t.

7. Build a Plan B income before you need it

The cruelest finding in the EBRI data: Workers keep telling researchers they’ll just work longer if savings come up short. But the survey shows that the “work longer” plan failed for nearly half of retirees.

So have a Plan B that doesn’t depend on your current employer. Build a side income now — consulting, freelancing, a niche skill you can rent out — while you’re still working full-time. Need ideas? Start with these low-stress side hustles for soon-to-be retirees. Treat it like an insurance policy you might never need.

If you do get pushed out at 58, you’ll have a soft landing instead of a free fall. And if you don’t? You’ll just retire richer.

The bottom line

Retirement isn’t a date you circle on the calendar — it’s an event that often happens to you, not for you. The fix isn’t to plan harder for the retirement you want. It’s to plan for the retirement you might be forced into.

Do these seven things in your 40s, 50s, or even early 60s, and you’ll join the small minority who actually get to retire on their own terms.