57% Of Baby Boomers Expect To Retire At 70 Or Later, Or Never. Among Millennials, It’s 31%

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It won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that expectations about when to stop working break down sharply by generation. To this point, the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies’ 25th Annual Retirement Survey polled 10,009 adults from Sept. 11 to Oct. 17, 2024. In it, 57% of Baby Boomers said they expect to retire at age 70 or later, or never. Among Millennials, the share was much lower at around 31%.

The survey also used a second cutoff: retiring before age 65, the traditional retirement age. On that question, the order flips, and younger workers are far more likely to expect an early exit. Below are the four generations ranked on both questions, along with what each plan costs or makes.

Ranking Generations by Plans to Work to 70 or Never Retire

1. Baby Boomers: 57%
2. Gen X: 39%
3. Gen Z: 33%
4. Millennials: 31%

Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, so when the survey ran, they were between 60 and 78 years old. This means that many were already past 65 and still on the job, and for a 72-year-old who’s still working, picking “70 or later” just describes the life they’re already living.

Gen Z places ahead of Millennials on this list. A third of the youngest adults already expect a long career or no retirement at all, and most have decades of work ahead of them.

Ranking Generations by Plans to Retire Before 65

1. Gen Z: 42%
2. Millennials: 36%
3. Gen X: 23%
4. Baby Boomers: 7%

Only 7% of Boomers expect to leave before 65. Most of them are already at or past that age. Early-retirement plans mostly belong to people who still have decades of work left, so for now they are expectations rather than fixed plans.

Millennials show up near the optimistic end of both lists. They’re the least likely to plan on a late retirement and the second most likely to aim for an early one. Those plans sit alongside a large share of household debt. Recent Federal Reserve distributional data shows Millennials hold 11.2% of household net worth but 42.6% of household liabilities, including 43.3% of all home mortgage debt.

Why Working Longer Raises the Monthly Check

Staying on the job longer helps in two ways. Social Security checks grow when someone waits past full retirement age to claim, up to 70, and savings have fewer years to cover expenses. The Social Security Administration estimates the average retired worker’s benefit at $2,170 a month in 2027, after a 3.6% cost-of-living increase.

People who keep working after they claim face a separate rule called the earnings test. Beneficiaries under full retirement age can earn up to $25,560 in 2027 before Social Security temporarily holds back part of their benefit. After full retirement age, the limit goes away.

Younger workers are also planning around the program’s finances. The 2026 Trustees Report projects the combined trust funds will run dry in the third quarter of 2034. After that, 83% of scheduled benefits would still be paid unless Congress changes the law.

Why Retiring Before 65 Comes With a Health Insurance Bill

Anyone who leaves work before Medicare age has to pay for private health coverage on their own until it starts. For the 42% of Gen Z hoping to leave early, that gap could last years. Medicare also has costs of its own once it begins. The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026, and the annual deductible is $283.

Retirees with larger incomes pay surcharges on top of that. Single taxpayers with income above $109,000 pay at least $284.10 a month for Part B, and the amount rises as income goes up.

One Number Every Generation Should Know

Whether someone is planning for 60, 65, or 70, the most useful figure is their own full retirement age for Social Security. That’s the age when the full monthly benefit becomes available. For anyone born in 1960 or later, it’s 67, which covers the youngest Boomers plus every Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z worker. Claiming before that age reduces the check for life. Waiting past it increases the check up to 70.

The survey shows plans as they stood in late 2024, and those plans will shift as markets, health, and job security change. Transamerica updates the survey every year, and so the next edition will show whether younger workers still expect to retire early, and whether more of Gen X starts to look like the Boomers.

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